‘9-1-1’: Predictions for Buck, Eddie, Maddie & More in March Return
It’s going to be a long four months until 9-1-1 returns in March 2025, and that means plenty of time to speculate about what’s next for our favorite first responders.
The ABC drama left off with a fall finale that ended on an amusing note—the members of the 118 on camera and behind the scenes of Hotshots, the firefighter drama for which Bobby (Peter Krause) briefly served as a consultant—but also with a major question mark about a major character. Is Eddie (Ryan Guzman) about to move back to El Paso to be with his son? And what about that chilling promo that shows Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) in some serious danger?
Below, we’re sharing our predictions for where 9-1-1 will find all the major characters—Athena (Angela Bassett), Bobby, Buck (Oliver Stark), Hen (Aisha Hinds), Chimney (Kenneth Choi), Eddie, and Maddie—when it returns this spring.
9-1-1, Returns, Thursday, March 6, 2025, 8/7c, ABC
Athena
First of all, it’s way too early to even mention retirement and Athena in the same sentence. But we have seen the start of what appears to be the future for her: passing on her knowledge and expertise to rookies. Sure, that didn’t go well when she did it in Episode 7, but that wasn’t her choice and she’d seen that Sparks wasn’t on the job for the right reasons. In fact, that led to her deciding to request a trainee.
“We may see somebody else in her cruiser with her at some point. It’s not guaranteed, but it could happen,” showrunner Tim Minear told TV Insider after the fall finale.
We have a feeling that we’ll see Athena training at least one more officer—and someone who will follow her lead and prove to be worth her time and efforts—by the finale.
Bobby
Like with Athena, the word retirement doesn’t belong anywhere near Bobby yet. But after his time at Hotshots earlier this season, we have a feeling that it will just be business as usual at work for him going forward. And after last season ended with him at the center of the major shakeup at the 118, we don’t think he’ll be part of any cliffhangers in the finale.
Bobby and Athena
Well, the good news is it sounds like they’re finally going to have their new house built when the show resumes. “You’ll see [the house] pretty soon,” promised Minear. He also noted, “I think it’s also time for them to have a little joy.” We’ll have to see what that means for them; after all, their attempt at a long-awaited honeymoon ended up a major cruise ship disaster, so they certainly deserve it!
Eddie
After Eddie’s son caught him with a doppelganger of his late wife, Christopher decided to move to Texas with his grandparents. He’s been there since last season’s finale, and he’s barely talking to his dad. In the fall finale, Eddie made the decision to move back to Texas for Christopher.
“I think what he sees is that Christopher is thriving in Texas and even when you see this Zoom call in this episode, he seems so much older. He just seems like, wow, he’s really turning into a person. And I think Eddie responds to that and sees that the gap is in fact getting deeper between them. Just as Brad [Callum Blue] warns him later in the episode, don’t let that gap grow wider and he sees his kid’s thriving. So it just feels like Eddie needs to be the one to take a step. Eddie needs to be the one to give up something, to walk away from something in order to really focus on repairing that relationship with Chris,” explained Minear.
So far, Eddie’s only looking at houses in Texas. That doesn’t mean he’s going to definitely move. However, we have a feeling that he will temporarily relocate—but not for longer than an episode or two, should it happen. Yes, Eddie messed up, but he’s also the parent in this situation. Maybe spending a little time in Texas will encourage him to put his foot down and tell Christopher he’s returning home to Los Angeles. Or something will happen in Los Angeles to make him rethink his plans to move.
Buck
Buck’s not only fresh off a breakup (and baking a lot to deal with that) but he’s also now going to be dealing with his best friend possibly leaving the state. He “feels completely torn” about that, since he wants to support Eddie, Minear said. “He will be pouring all of his abandonment issues and anxiety into something. … Poor Buck has got his abandonment issues going way, way back, and I think by the end of Episode 9, those abandonment issues are going to deepen further.”
Whatever it is that Buck does to deal with what’s going on in his life—we’re not ready to predict what that is yet—we know that it won’t be dating, since Minear said that takes a backseat to everything else at first.
Hen
After what Hen went through already this season, she deserves a break and just business-as-usual calls before heading home. We have a feeling she’ll get it, at last the first few episodes back because…
Hen and Karen
“I feel like there has to be” happiness for Hen and Karen (Tracie Thoms), admitted Minear, after two episodes in a row about their children: fighting to bring Mara home, then Denny pinned between a car and a house. The family is now back together, so maybe some sort of celebration for just that is in the cards.
Maddie
In terms of being in danger, Maddie’s at the top of our list! The promo for the March return shows her seemingly being kidnapped by a serial killer—and she’s pregnant! But as we’ve seen, Maddie is a fighter and she’s not one to give up. She survived her abusive ex-husband, and we have no doubt that she (and her unborn baby) will survive this next trauma. But we also have a feeling that she’ll be taken at the end of one episode, making the next one the search for her while we see what she’s going through.
Chimney
Do we even need to say it? Chimney’s going to be frantic searching for Maddie once she’s missing. (Let’s hope he doesn’t end up in the hospital again.) Beyond that, we think we could see something at work for him in these back 10 episodes.
Maddie and Chimney
When Chimney realized Maddie’s pregnant, they discussed what happened last time (her postpartum depression depression and thyroiditis that led to her leaving Chimney and their daughter). “We’ll be revisiting some of those themes when we come back in Episode 9,” teased Minear.
And while we’re concerned about Maddie, we do think that Minear’s “there’s a very good possibility of” the baby being born this season means that everyone will be okay, that Maddie and Chimney’s relationship will be as strong as ever—and we will meet Jee-Yun’s sibling by the finale!
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