What Happened to the Character Maddie on the Fox Drama Series ‘9-1-1'?

Television shows have the ability to bond you to a character whose journey you have followed for multiple seasons — and that’s definitely the case with the character Maddie on Fox’s thrilling and popular drama series, 9-1-1.

Portrayed by actor Jennifer Love Hewitt, Maddie may not have been an original character on the series, but ever since her second season debut on 9-1-1, she has been a fan-favorite character that has faced considerable obstacles on the show.

As Buck’s older sister, 9-1-1 dispatcher Maddie had a rough past courtesy of an extremely abusive ex who stalked her, a severe bout with postpartum depression after giving birth to her daughter with fellow 9-1-1 character Han, and multiple instances of her job dangerously crossing over into her real life.

However, just as fans thought that the long-suffering character was finally set to get her happy ending and find a bit of reprieve from the drama surrounding her, she found herself kidnapped and tortured during the eighth season — and her return to work following the harrowing ordeal has been anything but easy.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Jennifer noted that above all, Maddie is a survivor. “I think that — although, ultimately, the audience always wants Maddie to be happy — for me, this is Maddie. This is who she is. This is how she came into the show,” she said.

“Maddie is a feral woman with a lot of gumption, who is a fighter and a survivor. She's meant for these situations. She just is. And they're really fun for me to play. I've not been handed these things by any other person other than Tim (executive producer and showrunner) my entire career, and he really trusts me with these things,” she added.

“That said, they scare the s--t out of me. Every time I'm like, 'How am I going to pull this off?'" Jennifer continued.

As fans anticipate what to expect for the remaining episodes of the season, Jennifer reveals that what’s to come will leave fans absolutely shocked.

“The audience is not ready. I wasn't ready. It makes the Big Bear episodes look like [Maddie's ex-husband] Doug and I went to lunch. It's very intense. It's really crazy. It is a real study on unresolved trauma, people's trigger points,” she told Entertainment Weekly.

“I think to whatever extent people consider Maddie a fighter and a survivor, you really have no idea. But it was also so fun. It's a really cool couple of episodes in that it's driven by females. Females are fighting it out, females are fighting like hell, females leave each other. It's directed by a female. It felt really cool. It felt like we were some bada-- b---hes, as they say,” Jennifer said.

9-1-1 airs on Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC and is available to stream on multiple platforms, including Hulu, Philo, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.