We're Heading Into a Long Winter Break for '9-1-1' — When Does It Return?
Updated Nov. 28 2022, 7:41 p.m. ET
Peter Krause
It's hard to believe we're already halfway through Season 6 of 9-1-1. We need at least 1,000 more episodes featuring our favorite fictional first responders. The good news is that the show will be back after a long winter's nap.
When exactly does 9-1-1 return after the winter break? Read on for details.
When does '9-1-1' return?
Get out those calendars but don't plan on circling any specific dates just yet. According to TVLine, we can expect to return to the City of Angels sometime in the spring of 2023.
Back in Season 5, 9-1-1 aired its midseason finale on Dec. 6, 2021, and returned March 21, 2022. So, if we were to place our bets, we'd put our money on Season 6 returning in early-to-mid March 2023.
In the meantime, Season 4 of 9-1-1: Lone Star begins on Jan. 17, so we really never have to leave the world of 9-1-1.
(L-R): Anirudh Pisharody, Oliver Stark, Kenneth Choi and Aisha Hinds
Heading into the break, things aren't looking good for Bobby (Peter Krause), who gets an unsettling call from his sponsor, Wendell. Unfortunately, Wendell leaves a heartbreaking voicemail that leaves Bobby reeling. "I think I screwed up," he says in what can only be described as a defeated tone. "I didn't know what else to do. I thought I could handle it, but I can't, I can't do it."
He then asks Bobby if he ever does something that just doesn't go to plan. Wendell ends by saying that he's tried to be a good man but he's tired.
Meanwhile, as the episode description teased, "the Santa Ana winds bring in a variety of weirder-than-usual emergencies as the 118 respond to a family dog retrieving a severed hand and a young woman sleep-driving into the station."
On a barely lighter note, "Denny questions Hen and Karen about his biological parents, and Chimney thinks he’s found the perfect house for him and Maddie."
We're not surprised by any of this as 9-1-1 has seen its fair share of disasters.
Let's take a look back at some classic '9-1-1' premieres.
9-1-1 has had some pretty memorable premieres in past seasons, so we're hoping the Season 6 midseason premiere won't let us down.
In the Season 4 premiere, a Los Angeles dam breaks, which results in massive flooding and life-threatening mudslides. The most iconic scene in this opening is when the Hollywood Sign is completely wiped out. It's truly like watching a disaster movie. Executive producer Tim Minear told EW, "Last year, we talked about doing a wildfire that was coming up over the Hollywood Hills and endangering the sign and then we just thought it would be more fun if it fell down."
Tim was right. That was more fun.
The Season 5 opener is less of a physical danger and more of a psychological nightmare. The episode is literally titled "Panic," and panic you certainly will during a citywide blackout caused by a ransomware attack. It's almost as if the 9-1-1 writers wanted to remind us that all of the technology fears we're not-so-secretly hiding are entirely plausible.
An honorable mention has to go to Season 2, Episode 2, which we can technically file under premiere because it was Part 2 of the Season 2 opening. So, what happens? Well, you can't have a first responders show set in Los Angeles without at least one earthquake — in this case, a 7.1 earthquake. Compare that to the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which reached 6.7 on the Richter scale, killing 57 people and injuring over 9,000.
When 9-1-1 comes, it does not come to play.