911's Maddie seems to be in serious danger as fans wonder whether she could be in for a departure from the show.
'90s icon Jennifer Love Hewitt has been a consistent member of the 911 cast since the start of Season 2, when she was introduced as Evan Buckley's sister, Maddie. Shortly after her arrival, she took a position as a 911 dispatcher, and her journey has included her getting married and having a baby with Kenneth Choi's Chimney.
While Maddie has proven to be more than capable, 911 often puts her in life-threatening situations, which started before her first moments in the show's main timeline.
What Happened to Jennifer Love Hewitt's Maddie on 911?
Warning - the rest of this article contains spoilers for 911 Season 8, Episode 10.
The last two episodes of 911 have put Jennifer Love Hewitt's Maddie Han in one of her most dangerous situations yet, as she was kidnapped and tortured in a dark basement. Much of the more recent episode has her chained up and imprisoned there after being kidnapped.
This came after Maddie worked out the real details of a kidnapping case her team was in the middle of handling, finding out about a faked suicide.
After Maddie's husband, Chimney, and the rest of the 911 team learn she is missing when they don't find her at her house, it turns into an "all hands on deck" scenario as the search for Maddie is on. This also includes newly-introduced decorated LAPD Detective Amber Braeburn, played by Abigail Spencer.
Who Kidnapped Maddie on 911?
The end of 911 Season 8, Episode 9 showed Maddie being kidnapped, with the perpetrator revealed to be Abigail Spencer's LAPD Detective Amber Braeburn. While Braeburn proved to be an excellent cop, she suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder after being a kidnapping victim 25 years earlier.
Viewers also learn Amber is a dirty cop using a recent case as a cover for her crimes. The next episode shows her telling Maddie how she handled the recent abduction case poorly, which was a trigger for her and brought back horrible memories of her own abduction.
Does Maddie Die In 911?
As Chimney and the team find Amber fighting Maddie, Amber casually slits Maddie's throat with a knife, leading her to start to bleed out.
Shockingly, as Amber points a gun at Chimney, Maddie finds a way to get to her and knock her assailant out with a hammer. As Chimney puts pressure on Maddie's throat to try to stop the bleeding, Amber gets to her feet behind him and gets ready to shoot and kill him.
Thankfully, Angela Basset's Athena Grant shows up in the knick of time and shoots Amber dead, seemingly ending her storyline. The real question now is whether Maddie is going to make it, as she is in critically bad condition at the end of Episode 10.
This also marks the latest exit scare for 911 fans after Ryan Guzman's Eddie Diaz moved away to Texas to be with his son, Christopher, earlier in Season 8.
Is Jennifer Love Hewitt Leaving 911?
The real question now for 911 fans is whether Maddie will survive in upcoming episodes, putting Jennifer Love Hewitt's tenure on the series.
Speaking with Decider, Hewitt discussed Maddie's storyline in the most recent 911 episodes.
Touching on Maddie getting her throat slit, Hewitt called it "the ultimate 'F you' for somebody like Maddie" whose voice is so vital to her way of life. She also reflected on her character struggling "to get back her confidence and trust" about the call center being safe for her.
In a separate interview with TV Insider, Hewitt couldn't help but reflect on Maddie's well-being through so much of the series. However, this will be different than the situation with her abusive ex-husband, Doug, as Maddie could begin to "fear calls" and "fear being alone" if a real case of PTSD sets in for her and Chimney.
She also touched on her return to the call center, which won't be "a next-day king of thing" as she deals with "some things that will be challenging" in going back there.
Continuing to explore the storyline with Entertainment Weekly, she touched on where the character goes now that she's out of Amber's grasp. Again comparing this situation to the one with Doug, this one is far more complicated due to her being pregnant and feeling unsafe at her place of work:
"Maddie is the ultimate survivor and fighter, but I think this one stays with her. If you compare this to leaving Doug and Big Bear the way that she did.... That was a cleansing. That was a letting go and starting over. This is different, because it's so complicated. I really think Maddie hoped and thought this pregnancy would not have trauma involved, and it does. I think that the call centers being the innocent, pure place for her — where she can run when the world gets really scary and it's always safe for her — that has now also been damaged. I don't think it will be a super long thing, but she's got some stuff to go inside and pick back up."
For the time being, Maddie's tenure on 911 appears to be safe, even with her being seriously injured. However, fans will be eager to see what happens with her health as she goes into her recovery process.
New episodes of 911 debut on ABC on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET and can be streamed the next day on Hulu.
