The “bee-nado” is a swirling swarm unleashed by a bee-truck crash in “Buzzkill,” the Season 8 premiere of 9-1-1. In the 2024 preview clip, Buck gives the spectacle its name as Los Angeles first responders face a fictional mass-bee emergency.
What happens in the preview clip?
Entertainment Weekly’s exclusive preview report, syndicated by Yahoo Entertainment on September 9, 2024, describes a truck carrying bee boxes crashing and releasing the insects. Dispatcher Josh (Bryan Safi) tells Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) that the number of loose bees could kill 44,000 people. The clip then cuts to 118 firefighters Eddie (Ryan Guzman), Buck (Oliver Stark), Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Hen (Aisha Hinds) watching the swarm.
Eddie asks whether the bees will fly away. Hen answers, “Not Likely,” and Buck calls the swirling mass a “bee-nado.” The report says the sequence is set to Phil Collins’s “In the Air Tonight.”
The 44,000 figure is dialogue about the fictional emergency, not independently verified real-world bee-danger data. Entertainment Weekly’s report also mentions a teaser claim about surviving “500 bee stings”; that, too, is presented as part of the show’s promotional premise, not as a verified public-health statistic.
Which episode features the bee-nado?
The clip previews “Buzzkill,” the Season 8 opener. TVLine’s September 23, 2024 preview described a trailer carrying millions of bees crashing in Los Angeles and called the premiere a three-part opening arc. The season originally returned on September 26, 2024; that date is the episode’s historical premiere date, not an upcoming broadcast.
Where did the bee-nado idea come from?
In a September 26, 2024 interview with TheWrap, showrunner and co-creator Tim Minear said the idea was inspired by Irwin Allen’s 1970s disaster film The Swarm. He described the suggestion as part of a conversation with Ryan Murphy about other disaster movies after the previous season’s riff on The Poseidon Adventure. Minear called The Swarm “maybe the worst one ever.”
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Minear also told Entertainment Weekly, “We just wanted to generate some buzz.” The joke fits the clip’s deliberately outsized disaster premise.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does the bee disaster connect to Athena?
The swarm is not the premiere’s only storyline. Minear told TheWrap that the bee plot joins Athena’s story by the end of “Buzzkill,” setting up events in subsequent episodes. The bee-nado therefore serves as the comic-disaster spectacle in a premiere that also advances Athena’s broader storyline.
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