9-1-1 boss and Jennifer Love Hewitt on shocking reveal of Maddie’s kidnapper and what’s next: ‘I wasn’t ready’
The season 8 winter premiere of the ABC drama concluded with guest star Abigail Spencer’s Det. Amber Braeburn knocking out the 9-1-1 operator.
ABC
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for 9-1-1 season 8, episode 9, “Sob Stories.”
9-1-1 knows how to keep fans on their toes.
For weeks, the ABC drama has been teasing that Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Maddie would be kidnapped in the season 8 winter premiere — but, in a stunning twist, the assailant is revealed to be not the murderer she’d been dealing with, but the detective (guest star Abigail Spencer’s Det. Amber Braeburn) that Maddie and Athena (Angela Bassett) had been working with the whole episode.
Here, Hewitt and 9-1-1 showrunner and executive producer Tim Minear tell Entertainment Weekly the inspiration for the storyline, what it was like filming those intense 911 dispatcher phone calls, and how what’s to come will make Maddie’s previous kidnapping seem like a “a little stroll.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You often take inspiration from real-life headlines. Was that the case here?
TIM MINEAR: Yeah, this story is based on a real case that I think was from Minnesota many years ago of a serial killer who would call 911 and cry: “I’ve done it again. I can’t stop myself, you’ll find her body here….” It is a real thing. You can hear these calls on the internet, and we all thought that was super creepy. So that was the starting point of it. And then I just felt like it’d been a while since Maddie had been abducted, quite frankly. [Laughs] It felt like it was time to get her out of the house.
Those phone calls are pretty intense.
JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT: I was really excited about them. Thank God for Tim. I mean, truly, some people are afraid to do these things on TV. They’re afraid to put characters in these situations. 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. 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 my entire career, and he really trusts me with these things. That said, they scare the s— out of me. Every time I’m like, “How am I going to pull this off?”
How did you pull them off? Did you hear the distorted voice already or was someone just reading lines off screen?
HEWITT: Abigail was great, and she played around with a bunch of different things, but no, I didn’t get to hear what it actually sounds like [in the final cut]. I tried to picture things in my mind, but I didn’t know. It’s usually our script supervisor who just acts their little butt off for me. For this episode, we filmed all of the calls at once. It was like 10 pages of stuff, and as it kind of grew…. Maddie is a person who has triggers, and at one point I said, “I really feel like he has to reference [Maddie’s daughter] Jee-yun.” He had to because — nobody knows about it in the call center at that point, but — I’m carrying a child. The second that he gets into that mama bear trigger, on top of having been a victim of violence, I think that’s what catapults her into that decision that she makes.
What did you think of Maddie telling the caller they should end their own life?
HEWITT: I think it’s ultimately crazy and not a well thought out decision on her part. But I think it’s the survivor in her saying, “I have to save all these other people that are going to come afterwards.” I don’t think, in the moment, she thinks of how much that will stay with her. And that’s where she is, I think, holding that kind of heaviness when she’s knocked over the head.
DISNEY/HULU
Let’s dig into that. Was it always the plan to have Det. Braeburn as the kidnapper?
MINEAR: Yeah, that was the plan from the beginning.
HEWITT: Well, when we started filming, we didn’t have the full script yet. We just had kind of little sections, and then we sort of found out after we had started where it was all going. So [Abigail and I] kind of got to be surprised together. And I think that actually helped us, because when we did the scenes in the precinct, we didn’t fully know what was happening yet. I kind of knew, but not to the full extent. So that kind of helped us not give anything away.
Now the secret is out, so what can fans expect in episode 10?
MINEAR: This was really the setup episode. Everything will be unearthed in the next episode. How involved is she? And why is she? And who was making those calls? All of that will be revealed in the next episode. It’s very tense, and I think possibly one of the darkest episodes we’ve done.
HEWITT: 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. We just look like a little stroll. We had some snacks. [Laughs] It’s very intense. It’s really crazy. It is a real study on unresolved trauma, people’s trigger points. 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 badass bitches, as they say.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for 9-1-1 season 8, episode 9.
9-1-1’s mid-season hiatus has finally come to an end with the series making its return to ABC on Thursday, March 6. Season 8, episode 9, titled “Sob Stories”, picks up after Eddie reveals he’s moving back to Texas to be close to Christopher. While Buck tries to be supportive, he struggles to accept his best friend’s departure, even sabotaging his open house. There remains a fair amount of tension between the two, but they make amends when Buck gives up his loft and becomes Eddie’s subletter.
The most shocking twist of the hour occurs when Maddie is attacked by Abigail Spencer’s (Timeless, Suits) new detective character. The perilous situation leaves plenty of cause for concern, but Tim Minear says that Maddie will do whatever is necessary to survive. Her fate will be determined in season 8, episode 10, which the showrunner teases may not go exactly as expected.
9-1-1 is full of high-stakes emergencies and rescues, but the ABC first responder procedural has just as many wholesome moments to look back on.
ScreenRant interviews Minear about Maddie’s morally questionable decision, Buck and Eddie’s conflict, and what fans can expect as 9-1-1 season 8 continues.
ScreenRant: Let’s start with Maddie. She encouraged someone to take their own life in order to protect an innocent. Did Jee-Yun being threatened also push her to take that step?
Tim Minear: Oh, that’s an interesting question. I hadn’t really considered that, but I think it must have. For me, when we were breaking the story, I was like, “What is something that I haven’t seen her do?” I’ve seen her work miracles in the call center over the phone many times and just what would be an interesting thing to see her do, and the idea of her talking somebody into doing the darkest thing possible in order to save somebody just felt really interesting to me. But yeah, the fact that he mentions Jee-Yun, yeah, I think that’s a really astute observation. I would say yes.
I was so excited that you brought in Abigail Spencer. Did you have her in mind ahead of time for this serial killer disguised as a detective role?
Tim Minear: She’s amazing. No, I mean, we were kind of putting together the idea of this two-parter. We were always intrigued by that true crime story of the Weepy-Voiced Killer who would call 9-1-1, which was based on a real thing. You can hear it on the internet, it’s quite creepy. And he was also saying, “I’m not going to get into heaven.” It was so creepy. So that had always intrigued us.
And then when we were trying to come up with, “Who’s the most interesting person to meet on the other end of this phone?” that’s when we sort of developed the idea of the Brayburn character. And then, Shawn Dawson, my casting director, is like, “Abigail might be available for this.” So I didn’t even have pages for her to read yet. I talked to her over the phone and just kind of pitched out the storyline, and she was so game. You have no idea how amazing she is until you see part two.
Speaking of part 2, what can you share about Maddie’s kidnapping? Does she feel like she should’ve seen this [betrayal] coming?
Tim Minear: I don’t think Maddie has time to beat herself up at that point. I think she was beating herself up at the end of the last episode because of the morally questionable thing that she had to do. But Maddie is a woman who has survived a lot, and she’s been held captive before. So at that point she has to do what she has to do to survive, and hopefully she will.
Chimney and Buck would walk through fire for Maddie, so how will this affect them, as well?
Tim Minear: It’s going to affect everybody, actually. Not just Chimney and Buck, but I would say primarily Chimney. And we’ve sort of set up things this season so that it may not go exactly as you expect.
On another note, Buck overhears Eddie saying he has no ties in L.A. and everything that matters is in Texas. Can you give some insight into what Eddie means there?
Tim Minear: Eddie’s talking to people he doesn’t know, who’ve asked a question about the house. “What’s wrong with this place? Why do you want to leave?” And he’s like, “Because I have to.” I think Eddie means what he says in as much as—what he’s saying is his responsibilities lie in Texas. When you say you have no ties here, that means he’s not responsible for the people in L.A. He’s responsible for that little boy.
Buck has a different reaction to Eddie leaving than the rest of the 118 does. What’s the intention behind that juxtaposition?
Tim Minear: That’s Buck. He’s a puppy dog in a lot of ways, and he starts off the episode wanting to not be selfish about this. “I’m going to help you sublet your house. We’re going to do it together.” He’s trying to do the right thing, but he’s got these abandonment issues, and he’s about to lose a really important part of his life when this guy moves back to be with his kid.
When he overhears this thing, I think he almost takes it as an excuse to have a little bit of a tantrum. And I think the thing you’ll notice is, in the middle of the episode, when the other 118ers hear the news that Eddie feels like he has to leave to go take care of his kid, they don’t hesitate. They tell him that’s the right thing to do, and they give him a hug. All of those people have kids. Buck does not.
Is there anything you can tease about the exploration of what Buck’s feelings are [mentioned in Oliver Stark’s Today interview]?
Tim Minear: Buck has a lot of trouble letting go of his best friend [and him] moving back to Texas. I’m just going to let the episodes speak for themselves. I just don’t want to suggest that we’re going down some road that we’re not actually going down.
What did it mean for Eddie to have that moment with the 118 and for Buck to sublet his house? He seemed almost taken aback when he said, “You’d really do that for me?”
Tim Minear: I think Eddie is annoyed with Buck in that moment, and Eddie says the thing that I think encapsulates what’s really going on. Which is, “If in order for it to be bearable that I’m leaving, you need to be mad at me, then be mad at me.” Because that’s what people do, right? It’s like, “I’m going to decide to be mad at you so that I don’t hurt as much once you’re gone.”
Eddie recognizes that, but he’s annoyed in that moment, and then when he realizes that Buck kind of stopped throwing a tantrum and is doing this incredibly magnanimous thing by solving the problem that Eddie has at the moment, which is, “I can’t really leave until this house is sublet,” the fact that Buck’s going to take over that lease, yeah, I think that moves him. He realizes Buck’s going to sacrifice something and lose something in the process in order to give something to Eddie. And so he’s moved.
Is Christopher aware that Eddie is coming to Texas?
Tim Minear: If Eddie’s going to take the time to put a down payment down in a house near his parents’ house, yeah. Christopher knows Eddie’s coming. Christopher’s still living with Eddie’s parents.
Will we see the Christopher and Eddie storyline in Texas onscreen?
Tim Minear: Yes, you will.
Last time we spoke, you said that everyone’s lives would be changed by the end of Episode 10. Is that in regard to a certain storyline?
Tim Minear: No, really all I meant was that they’re all going to go through something big. Changes are in the air for all the characters on some level and there will be changes happening throughout the rest of the season.
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9-1-1 explores the high-pressure experiences of first responders — including police officers, firefighters and dispatchers — who are thrust into the most frightening, shocking and heart-stopping conditions. These emergency responders must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in their own lives. The show draws from the real lives of first responders who regularly face situations that are often unpredictable, intense and uplifting at the same time.
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‘9-1-1’ Star Jennifer Love Hewitt Calls Serial Killer Abduction the ‘Worst Thing That’s Ever Happened to Maddie’
Note: This story contains spoilers from “9-1-1” Season 8, Episode 9.
Maddie, Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character on “9-1-1,” has been through some very trying times, including when her abusive former husband Doug (played by real-life hubby Brian Hallisay) almost killed her. But being abducted by a serial killer makes all that trauma seem like a “lunch date,” says the actress.
Hewitt spoke to TheWrap before the first of the two-part episode aired on Thursday night, and explained how much fun it is for her to play Maddie when she’s in distress.
“It’s awesome. Most people don’t get handed things like this at their normal TV job, and [showrunner] Tim [Minear] always gives us the best stuff. I’m just so deeply grateful,” she told TheWrap. “These episodes are the most Maddie,” she added, “because this is what she was put on the planet to do, unfortunately, to survive over and over again and fight like hell.”
Here’s more of our conversation with Hewitt:
TheWrap: Where does this rank on the scale of the most awful things that ever happened to Maddie?
Jennifer Love Hewitt: Oh, the most awful, like number one. Doug seems like a lunch date compared to what happens to me. I literally didn’t think that anything could ever top that. And even Brian, when he read it, he was like, “Oh, what we did was nothing.”
This is by far the worst thing that’s ever happened to Maddie, and it’s the biggest fight of her life.
There’s extra peril for her because she’s pregnant, which very few people know at this point.
Right. It’s not a public thing yet at the call center. But it is definitely another reason to fight so hard.
When you got this script, what did you think?
I was, like, “Oh, wow, how am I going to do this?” I was nervous and excited about the challenge. We want her to be happy and we want her to find calm and goodness in her life. But the truth is, these episodes are the most Maddie, because this is how she came to be. When we met her, that was in peril, she was on the run. She was living a very dark life and was a fighter and survivor at that point.
For me, these episodes are really fun, even though I know that the audience wants her to be happy. It’s when I feel like Maddie is the most Maddie, because this is what she was put on the planet to do, unfortunately, to survive over and over again and fight like hell. And she’s good at it.
Definitely. The show is always putting the characters through the wringer. Is Maddie kicking herself for getting too involved in this particular case, which started with a “9-1-1” call from the killer asking her to stop him from killing a girl he had abducted?
Yeah, it was a normal call that turned very dark very quickly, that somehow ended up under her skin in a very severe way. Anyone that’s held captive against their will is a trigger for her obviously, given her domestic abuse background and the stuff that she went through with Doug.
So when it switches into that territory, it becomes different. It’s not just a dispatcher handling a call, it’s a victim, it’s a survivor, it’s a trigger point.
Later in the episode, when the killer calls back, Maddie thinks she’s talked him into taking his own life and she’s wondering if she did the right thing or if she went too far.
Right. When he brings up her own child, and then her knowing that she has another one on the way, then the mama bear thing also gets triggered. And it’s a little bit like, “Well, now I have to save everyone.” Because if this continues to go on, there’ll be more victims.
Sometimes her humanity finds itself in the job, maybe more than it’s supposed to. She stops being a dispatcher, and she starts being a woman and a survivor and a fighter, and it doesn’t serve her well at all.
What was your reaction to the reveal at the end of the episode, when we learn that the real abductor is very much alive and is actually the Missing Persons detective played by Abigail Spencer?
I loved it. She’s tremendous in these episodes. I had worked with her on “Ghost Whisperer,” like 100 years ago, so it was really fun to see her. We had a really great time shooting these episodes. As crazy as that sounds, it was bananas. I was chained to a pole for 10 days. I kept making the joke to the crew, “If you guys leave me here and break for lunch, I will never forgive you.”
But we were a safe place to land for each other. Because we had that trust and friendship, I feel like we were both able to push our limits in ways that maybe we wouldn’t have been able to had been someone else. I’m very grateful that it was her. She really gives a beautiful performance.
Will Maddie have to take some time off work to recover after this?
We’ll see. I feel like the things that are happening for the main characters this season are as traumatic and dramatic as the emergencies that we’re dealing with. Sometimes it feels like [the rescues] are actually more the [focus] and we’re like the stuff that attaches to your heart or gives you a little bit of a break from the craziness and the emergencies.
This season feels like every character is really going through it in all these different ways. Everyone is transforming. Tim is a genius. He really knows how to say to the audience, “Don’t get comfortable.” This season feels very much about these people and who they are and how they’re growing and [what] they’re being put through. Lots more of that coming.
“9-1-1” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.
The post ‘9-1-1’ Star Jennifer Love Hewitt Calls Serial Killer Abduction the ‘Worst Thing That’s Ever Happened to Maddie’ appeared first on TheWrap.
