“9-1-1”'s Ryan Guzman on Eddie's “Risky Business” dance and mustache shave

The star of the ABC drama shares what he went through to get permission for his facial hair and the surprising impetus of that Tom Cruise homage.

To paraphrase Tom Cruise in Risky Business, sometimes you gotta bust a move.

Thursday's episode of 9-1-1 was full of emotional moments — many including Ryan Guzman's Eddie, who has been despondent over his son, Christopher, moving to Texas and living with his grandparents at the end of last season. But — after the intervention of a priest — Eddie enjoys the most carefree moment of the hour (and maybe of his entire time on the ABC drama), shaving off his mustache, which had served as a mask of sorts, and dancing around his living room like Cruise in the aforementioned 1980s classic.

As supportive of a friend as Eddie is, even Buck (Oliver Stark) showing up mourning the end of his relationship with Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) can't dampen the first responder's pantsless vibes.

Related: 9-1-1's Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman break down that Risky and touching 'Buddie' final moment

"This new version of Eddie," Guzman tells Entertainment Weekly. "Like 'No, I'm going to sit in my joy. I deserve this joy.' And, through the power of the priest and his conversation, 'I've earned this.'"

Here, Guzman reflects on Eddie's journey, shares the surprising impetus of the Risky moment, and reveals what went into getting approvals to sport a mustache this season — and why it was time for it to go.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What led Eddie to confession for the first time in over two decades?

RYAN GUZMAN: I feel when he lacks direction, he always kind of goes back to the church or he goes back to [Peter Krause's] Bobby, which is a conduit of the church. So I think that was, "Oh, I don't want to go to Bobby with my problems again. What else is there? Well, let's just end up in church." And then he happens to see somebody coming out of a confessional and go, "Let's try it out." I think it just happens by chance, and then I think it was a great decision for him to kind of lead him in the right direction, which leads us to the last scene and him just enjoying himself.

And shaving his mustache. What was the story behind that facial hair in the first place?

I tried showing up with one several years ago and they were like, "Absolutely not. We're not keeping that caterpillar, no way." And then as we were coming back [after hiatus to film season 8,] I was like, "I'm going to try it again." So I sent a picture to Kenny [Choi, who plays Chimney] and then he sent it to [9-1-1 co-creator and showrunner Tim Minear]. Then Tim sent it to all of ABC and then Disney and it went up the whole line. I'm like, "Whoa, okay, this thing climbed real quick." And they went for it! I was like, "Okay, I'm going to have some fun with this." So for me personally, I enjoyed every bit of leaning into this mustache, making it a thing, making it its own character. For Eddie, it was kind of the opposite. It was him trying to not look at himself in the mirror, not see himself, kind of run away from who he is because of shame and the fact that he has no son anymore.

What was it like filming the shaving scene? I assume that was practical, so just one take?

As Ryan, I was trying my best to do on one fell swoop, and as I'm doing it kind missed the middle part. And I was like, Oh my God, this is going to look so bad because it looks like a...um...very bad person. But as Eddie, I was just living in the moment of self acceptance of finally. It's so odd: I've had this in my own life, where I've grown a beard and I shave it and I forget. I'm like, "Oh yeah, that's what I look like." You kind of look at yourself and you're kind of just like, "Yeah, all right, let's move on with our life. Let's take the next step." And it was really nice to have Eddie do that.

He doesn't just take steps, he dances.

That was Tim and Kenny Choi's idea. Tim had always been trying to find something for me to dance in. He actually approached me last year when they were doing the big cruise ship, they had this massive gimbal. And he goes, "What do you think about doing some kind of like Bob Fosse kind of dance, and you just kind of go around the whole gimbal?" And I loved it. I thought that's where we were going. But then here we go with Risky Business from the mind of Kenny Choi.

Were you nervous?

I haven't danced on camera like that in so many years. But I wanted to make it clear that this isn't Sean from Step Up dancing. It's Eddie. So Eddie's not going to be the most coordinated individual, but he's going to have so much fun just living in the moment. And he might not be step for step, but I'm portraying it as if this was one of his favorite movies. So I just had fun. I think we did six takes and that's it. The rest is history.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.