Does Maddie Die In 9-1-1? Jennifer Love Hewitt's Future On The Show Explained

Maddie Han (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has suffered mightily over the course of "9-1-1." Whether it's dealing with a physically and emotionally abusive ex, coping with the rigors of postpartum depression, or enduring the pain of nearly losing her husband, Howie "Chim" Han (Kenneth Choi), on their wedding day, she's always able to persevere through the worst of things. In short, she's a natural survivor — and survive is what she does when she's abducted by a serial killer in the current season.

Detective Amber Braeburn (played by "Suits" and "Grey's Anatomy" star Abigail Spencer) has been bitterly slaying innocents after being abducted as a teen herself, and Maddie ends up in the line of fire when she manages to mess up Amber's cover story. Though a pregnant Maddie and Chim just barely manage to survive their latest brush with death, Maddie is left with one whopper of a case of PTSD.

If you need a refresher course on who Maddie is, what she's been through, and the danger she's currently facing down, look no further. Here's everything you need to know about the character, her litany of struggles, and the new challenge she's facing.

Maddie Buckley became a 9-1-1 operator in part to escape an ugly marriage. Her brother, Evan "Buck" Buckley (Oliver Stark), tries to support her as she makes a new life for herself, but soon the ugliness of her past intrudes. She's kidnapped and nearly left for dead by her ex-husband, Doug Kendall (Brian Hallisay), who has become violently jealous of her developing attraction to Chim. Ultimately rescued and with Doug slain, Maddie allows herself to fall in love with Chim, but their relationship is complicated by the arrival of their daughter, Jee-Yun.

Maddie is soon caught in the claws of a horrifying postnatal depression, finding herself swamped by feelings of self-loathing and inferiority. Her hatred of self is cemented when Jee-Yun almost drowns while Maddie is watching her solo. Blaming herself, Maddie runs off to San Francisco, believing she shouldn't be trusted to take care of her own child. She and Chim manage to work things out and are soon married, but he nearly dies prior to the wedding thanks to a case of encephalitis. Once Chim is fully healed, the couple settle into their brand-new house with Jee-Yun and prepare themselves for the birth of a second child. This is when disaster strikes.

After surviving so many horrifying things, one would think the universe might give Maddie a break. Unfortunately, it does not — and it all comes down to a twist of fate. Maddie is manning a phone line at her job when a call from a seemingly suicidal man comes in. It turns out that he's kidnapped a girl named Jayna, and while Maddie tries to keep him on the line, they trace the call. But the number leads Athena (Angela Bassett) to an empty lot and, he hangs up before Maddie can do more. 

Maddie and Athena are interviewed by Amber Braeburn, a missing persons detective who sees a connection between the caller and a ten-year-old murder and kidnapping case. Maddie does some poking around, but Amber already has a suspect in Richard Bullock, who is on her radar due to prior offenses. When "Richard" calls back, Maddie reacts with feigned compassion to keep him talking and hopefully rescue Jayna — until he threatens to kill Jee-Yun. Maddie then coaxes "Richard" into killing himself to spare Jayna, a Maddie scene that might go too far for some but makes sense considering the situation. When Maddie hears a gunshot, she thinks that's what happened. The police subsequently recover Jayna, and all seems well.

But it's not. That night, Maddie is accosted and drugged by Amber. When she comes to, Braeburn is mumbling to herself and Maddie realizes Amber has Dissociative Identity Disorder, brought on by her own kidnapping and subsequent poor treatment by a 9-1-1 operator. What's more, she's a serial killer. Maddie soon realizes she was speaking with Amber's other personality, Peter, on the phone, and the dead man at the scene was set up to take the fall for Amber's crimes. Maddie nearly becomes Amber's next victim via a slit throat, but Athena shoots Amber dead before she can attack Jee-Yun and Chim. Maddie survives her ordeal, but she's left with nightmares and a severe case of PTSD. Even worse, she and Chim now have a far bigger problem to deal with.

Life in the "9-1-1" version of California is rarely sedate, so it's not surprising that death is once again stalking Maddie and Chim. While clearing an emergency at a government lab, Chim has been exposed to a mutated virus that is similar to Ebola but spreads more easily and is much more deadly. When audiences last left him, he was in the process of dying slowly. Maddie can do nothing but field calls from her husband and listen to him suffer from a distance while the team battles to get the cure to Chim against the wishes of government officials who want to keep a lid on everything.

Is Chim going to die? While that doesn't appear to be in the cards, it would be very "9-1-1" to put this couple through even more torment. Hopefully, he'll conquer this virus with a lot of help from his intrepid friends. But fans will have to keep waiting and watching to see if this iconic "9-1-1" couple gets a second chance — or if Maddie will be a victim of heartbreak once more.