After an epic seventh season that began with a Poseidon Adventure at sea and ended with the burning down of the house of Bobby (Peter Krause) and Athena (Angela Bassett) and the quiet resignation of the fire captain of the 118th. 9-1-1 Co-creator and showrunner Tim Minear had one thing in mind when his team returned to start writing Season 8: “Not to just take back everything that happened at the end of last season.”

That meant we didn’t get to backtrack when Gerrard (Brian Thompson) stepped in as the new head of the 118. Not to mention, we pick up where things left off, with newlyweds Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) taking over the care of Mara (Askyler Bell) from Karen (Tracie Thoms) and Hen (Aisha Hinds) while the latter has to deal with a city councilor bent on revenge. Then there’s Buck (Oliver Stark), who’s dating Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.), and Eddie (Ryan Guzman), who’s turning his family life upside down after kissing a doppelgänger of his son’s deceased mother.

In addition, Season 8 will begin with a swarm of bees. “We just wanted to create a little excitement,” jokes Minear to Weekly entertainment before explaining that the impending disaster was due to a conversation with co-creator Ryan Murphy. “He was really excited about what we did last year with the Poseidon Adventure (plot) and he said, “What are some other great disaster movies from the 70s?” And I just threw The Swarmand he was like, ‘Yeah, do it!'”

Unlike previous seasons, in which 9-1-1 announces the big disaster at the beginning of the season, then rewinds the timeline to catch up with the 118 before getting into the action. “We’ll hit the ground running,” Minear says of starting off with the bees. But the insects will “lead to a slightly different disaster at the end of the first hour that takes us through the next two episodes,” he continues, hinting that the second crisis is inspired by another ’70s disaster movie and will also feature someone from Athena’s past. “I will say it’s someone you’ve met, and it’ll help her work through a very important event in her past in a deeper way,” he reveals.

But what’s going on with the 118th family? Minear says here’s what viewers can expect when the ABC drama returns Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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Is Bobby really leaving the 118?

“I think we landed in a really good place for an interesting story where Dad is away from home, you could say,” Minear says of Bobby’s life outside the firehouse, which includes his work as a technical consultant on an action TV show called Hotshots“It’s a ridiculous fire department TV show,” Minear explains. “Bobby is just sick of it. He’s not attracted to Hollywood or anything. He just finds the whole thing incredibly trivial and ridiculous.”

Ultimately, “Bobby just wants his job back,” Minear continues. “But as you know, (Gerrard) has already been put in his place and there is no other available fire station for him to run.”

How does the 118 deal with Gerrard as captain?

“I think Buck has it harder than the others,” Minear says. “Eddie was in the military, and both Hen and Chimney have already served under this guy — they’re kind of inoculated. They know not to let him get them down. Bobby is the only captain Buck has ever served under. Bobby is really his surrogate father, so it’s just a lot harder for Buck. And not only have Hen and Chimney served under Gerard before, she has other things to worry about. She’s trying to get her nursing license back. She can’t be reprimanded on the job. She has to follow the rules. And Chimney is in a similar position because he’s the one who’s babysitting Mara with Maddie.”

Are Buck and Tommy still together?

Minear says that not much time has passed between the events of the Season 7 finale and the Season 8 premiere, so there hasn’t been much development in Buck and Tommy’s relationship. “But we do see them becoming more comfortable with each other,” he explains. “We would definitely call them a couple. Obviously they’re comfortable hanging out with Eddie, but when you pair up with someone, it takes up some of your time, so Eddie is left out a little bit as well. Well, not left out, but Buck doesn’t have as much free time as he used to, let’s put it that way.”

How does Eddie cope with Christopher living with his grandparents?

“Eddie is trying his hardest to maintain communication with his son, and it’s very difficult for him,” Minear says. “You have Zoom, you have FaceTime, you have all these things — but if the person on the other end doesn’t want to participate, it’s just very difficult. So at the beginning of this season, Eddie is still grieving that loss and trying to figure out what to do about it and how to get his son back. To do that, he has to question himself. He’s always served the country, raised his special needs child, been a firefighter, done all the things that make him who he is. And everything was taken from him last year except his job. Now it’s time for him to figure out who the hell he is.”

What’s going on with Mara’s care situation and the city councilor?

“One thing I started last year is showing Buckley-Hans and Hen and Karen as an extended family outside of the firehouse. I put Maddie more in Hen’s world and in Maddie’s world, so Mara isn’t so far away for Hen and Karen,” Minear says. “I imagine them going there every day and spending a lot of time as a blended family. So that’s great for them… until it’s not.”

And as for councilwoman Olivia Ortiz (Verónica Falcón), whom Minear calls “Cruella,” “She’s running for mayor,” he teases, before adding ominously, “and something is going to happen.”

To 9-1-1 they always do that.