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Spoilers will be unmarked for Seasons 1, 2, and 3. Spoilers will be hidden for Season 4 and 5.


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Fire Station 118

Current Members

    Captain Robert “Bobby” Nash 

Captain Robert “Bobby” Nash

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robert_nash.png

Profession: Firefighter

Played By: Peter Krause

Appearances: 9-1-1

LAFD Captain. Is a recovering alcoholic, with a very dark and troubled past. Dating Athena as of the start of Season 2, and married her at the end of Season 2.
  • Affectionate Nickname: The members of the 118 call him "Cap."
  • The Atoner: He was responsible for the apartment fire that killed his family and many other residents. Originally, he intended to kill himself once he'd saved as many people as had died in the fire, but is later talked out of it.
  • Balancing Death's Books: In the first season, his arc revolves around wanting to save at least 148 people in order to balance out the 148 residents that were killed in the apartment fire that he accidentally caused. Thankfully, he decides not to go through with it.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Absolutely do NOT read, touch, or even ask about his book of names. Buck learned this the hard way. Averted when Bobby decides to discard it moments before heading off to Athena's date.
    • Only seen in 1X05 where Bobby absolutely loathes buildings that aren't up to code or built poorly, mostly because his family died the same way.
  • The Captain: Of the 118.
  • Confessional: He is seen going to confessional regularly.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Has a super rare blood type, as in only one other person in the world has been discovered to have, that can provide a cure for Rhesus Disease, a condition where a pregnant mother's antibodies attack the fetus's blood cells. Unfortunately Bobby also has "trouble" with donating blood due to a fear of needles. He bit a doctor trying to take his blood as a kid, and fainted and fell off the chair as an adult.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: After breaking his back on a mission, Bobby gets addicted to alcohol and painkillers (and when there weren't any, hard drugs), to the point that he rented an apartment several floors down from the one he shared with his family, just so he could drink and get high all he wanted. One night, he made the mistake of falling asleep, which led to him leaving in a hurry and forgetting to put out his space heater. You can guess what happens after that.
  • Experienced Protagonist: Has had a very long career as a firefighter of over 30 years.
  • A Father to His Men: Deeply involved in taking care of his squad, and even cooks for them on numerous occasions.
  • Happily Married: To Athena.
  • The Lost Lenore: His children and his first wife, Marcy.
  • Minnesota Nice: Originally from the Twin Cities and is also one of the nicest people in the cast.
  • Not So Above It All: The man is a hardened professional, through and through, but he occasionally indulges in joking around with his team, especially on their more ridiculous jobs.
    • In 1X05, even he can't resist giggling at the sight of the man stuck in the giant car wash brushes.
  • Official Couple: With Athena. As of "Under Pressure," they have been dating for 4 months and get married in "This Life We Choose."
  • Outliving One's Offspring: In 1X05, it is revealed that his children, Brooke and Robert Jr, were killed in a house fire.
  • Papa Wolf: Don't mess with his kids. Any of his kids, firefighter or step children. He will go full rampage to protect them.
  • Parental Substitute: Although it started out as a joke, Buck takes to calling him "Pops" and in turn, Bobby calls him "Son."
  • Real Men Cook: He's a very talented chef, much to the appreciation of his unit.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Bobby is nice, no doubt about it, but he also cares very much about his job, which can make him quite strict from time time.
  • Recovered Addict: Has struggled with alcohol and painkillers in the past. Aside from a one-time relapse in Season 1, he has stayed on the wagon throughout the series.
  • Relationship Upgrade:
    • Him and Athena become an item in “A Whole New You”.
    • They then get married in “This Life We Choose”.
  • Team Dad: As maybe the oldest member of the 118, he automatically falls into this role. He encourages his members when they're down, can often be seen cooking for everybody, and is generally just a pillar of support and love for them, Buck especially.
  • Token Religious Teammate: Out of his unit, he is the only one with expressed faith, specifically as a practicing Catholic.

    Howard "Chimney" Han 

Howard "Chimney" Han

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/howard_han.png

Profession: Firefighter / Paramedic

Played By: Kenneth Choi

Appearances: 9-1-1

Firefighter/Paramedic. After suffering an accident in Episode 3 of the first season, he tries to figure out what to do in his life, but eventually returns to firefighting.
  • Action Dad: As he is a firefighter, he becomes this after Jee-Yun is born.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Those who know him for a long time call him "Howie."
  • Deadpan Snarker: Especially whenever Buck is around.
  • Famed In-Story: Few people know his name, but tales of the firefighter who was impaled in the head and returned to work in a matter of weeks are told as far as Austin, Texas.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Hen.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: He and his best friend Kevin joined the fire department together. Kevin dies saving a pregnant woman during a fire with Chimney standing a few feet away. Chimney is traumatized and feels Survivor Guilt because he could have done so, but hesitated and Kevin died for him.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He's impaled through the skull in a car accident, but survives by some miracle.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: He fears that he isn't as heroic as the others, leading him to make up stories to impress his then-girlfriend in season 1.
  • Jumped at the Call: When the karaoke bar he worked at caught fire, he snapped into action, evacuating the building and putting out a woman on fire. He applied to the LAFD before he even went home.
  • The Match Maker: He's the one who sets Karen and Hen on their first date.
  • The Medic: He's a trained paramedic, with Bobby even calling him his best and smartest EMT.
  • Noodle Incident: How he got the nickname "Chimney" has never been revealed.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Starts dating Maddie in "This Life We Choose".
  • Scars are Forever: He has a distinct scar on his forehead from his accident.
  • Sex with the Ex: He sleeps with Maddie in Let The Games Begin after a movie marathon session.
  • Ship Tease: With Maddie. They click as friends almost immediately, and sing bad karaoke together. They eventually start dating and have a daughter together.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Chim's father is so distant that after his wife died, he moved back to Korea without Chimney...when Chimney was still a child.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Chimney is terrified of snakes due to having been traumatized from watching a scene from Conan the Barbarian (1982).

    Henrietta "Hen" Wilson 

Henrietta "Hen" Wilson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/henrietta_wilson.png

Profession: Firefighter / Paramedic

Played By: Aisha Hinds

Appearances: 9-1-1, 9-1-1: Lone Star ("Hold The Line")

Firefighter/Paramedic. Athena's best friend, who lives with her wife and their adopted child.
  • Back to School: She begins medical school in the fourth season, and feels isolated due do being older than those in her cohort.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Hen is as sweet and kind as they come, but catch her on a bad day, and you will get pummeled.
    • In 1X03, she initially comes across as more put-together than Bobby or Buck and seems to be coping quite well with Chimney's accident. However, when they receive a call about a bunch of Mexican refugees being left behind in the back of a sweltering truck, Hen finally snaps and rugby-tackles the truck driver to the ground when she spots him in the crowd.
  • Big Beautiful Woman: Hen has quite a curvy figure and is treated as very beautiful in- and out- of story.
  • Cool Big Sis: Acts this way towards Buck, especially in the first season.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Her dad walked out when she was 9, she was shot at 16, and it's implied that her mother didn't really take her coming out well.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Very compassionate to any animals they come across, and ensures they're treated as well as their human patients.
  • Happily Married: To Karen.
  • Mama Bear: Do not threaten children, her friends, or her family in her presence. She will come for you.
  • Meaningful Name: Hen is both an animal lover and a serious mother hen to friends and patients alike.
  • The Medic: Is a trained paramedic.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: At the end of "Malfunction", Hen goes into a complete breakdown, babbling and sobbing and collapsing in Athena's arms when she realizes that the young woman whose car she'd accidentally struck with the ambulance has died on the scene.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: With Athena. And Chimney to an extent as well.
  • Sex with the Ex: Has sex with her ex-girlfriend, Eva Mathis, in "Full Moon (Creepy AF)."
  • Twofer Token Minority: She's an African-American lesbian.

    Evan "Buck" Buckley 

Evan "Buck" Buckley

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evan_buckley.png

Profession: Firefighter

Played By: Oliver Stark

Appearances: 9-1-1, 9-1-1: Lone Star ("Hold The Line")

Firefighter. A reckless rookie who has a tendency to leap before he looks. He's also a bit of a Casanova.
  • Affectionate Nickname: The team calls him "Buckaroo" in moments of closeness.
  • Age-Gap Romance: Has one with Abby in the first season. She’s sixteen years older than he is, but they make it work for a while until Abby leaves.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Definitely into women, but his relationship with Eddie is full of chemistry. He also never denies other's loaded comments, from his sister's teasing to an elf complimenting "their" son. When Josh jokingly accuses Maddie and Chimney of setting him and Buck up on a date, neither Maddie or Buck use the excuse that Buck is straight as a reason not to. TK also assumes that he was hitting on him during the crossover.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: His entire storyline in 6x11 is him fighting to escape his coma dreams

  • The Baby of the Bunch: Is the youngest of the 118 crew until Ravi joins them. (Eddie may actually be a little bit younger than Buck, but emotionally, Buck is the thebabyofthebunch.)
  • Big Little Brother: He is nearly a head taller than Maddie.
  • Blood-Splattered Innocents: In the last two episodes of season four, courtesy of Eddie taking a sniper round to the chest.
  • Bothering by the Book: Few things are as unwelcome at the 118 as the sight of Buck with a clipboard in his hand.
  • Character Development: Buck himself refers to this in terms of a series of "software updates." We are currently on Buck 3.0.
    • His time with Abby makes him more interested in meaningful, long-term relationships.
    • He also gets more mature over the course of the first season, while still keeping his hotheadedness. For example, when a crowd of gawkers gather outside the trailer of the dead man who'd used Buck's identity online, Buck demands the coroner take the time to drain the body, allowing the man to pass with some dignity.
  • The Determinator: When he is injured in the line of duty, they tell him that firefighting might not be an option for him anymore, with a desk job being his best choice. He is determined to get his old job back after this, even to the point of suing the city, the department, and even Bobby for wrongful termination. Eventually, he gets his wish.
    Buckley: I told you that I wouldn't stop fighting until I got my job back, and I won't. Even if it means fighting you.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: With Eddie.
  • Friend to All Children: Kids are very near and dear to his heart. His ability to connect with any and all children they meet on jobs is one of the first indicators we get that Buck isn't just an "alpha male macho type".
    • Despite initially being at odds with Eddie, Buck immediately melts when the former shows him a picture of Christopher for the very first time.
  • Gentle Giant: Buck is a very large man, but a big softie.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Athena calls him this by name.
  • Heroic BSoD: After he loses his first victim in the second episode of the first season. It takes a bit of prodding from Bobby to pull him out of it.
  • Hero-Worshipper: Has shades of this towards Bobby.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: He's a kind and loyal person who loves saving people, but years of neglect from his parents damage his self-esteem so much he feels getting himself in danger/injured for others is the only way people will see him as worthy because his parents only pay attention to him whenever he's injured. Eddie describes it best.
    Eddie: Because, Evan, you came in here the other day and you said you thought it would have been better if it had been you who was shot. You act like you're expendable. (sighs) But you're wrong.
  • Hidden Depths: Buck went through SEAL trials before the series started, but chose to drop out and become a firefighter because he wanted a dangerous, adrenaline-filled job that allowed him to help people instead of harm them. He also tended bar in South America and knows how to deal with tapeworms.
  • I Will Wait for You: In the second season, he's determined to keep waiting for Abby to return. He eventually decides to move on during "Haunted".
  • Informed Attribute: After being struck by lightning, Buck displays increased math skills, which Eddie tries to put to use playing poker. The parts of the game that were shown all had Buck winning because he had the highest hand, which means Buck won by pure luck not math skill.
  • Instant Drama, Just Add Tracheotomy: Abby performs one on him in “Heartbreaker” after he chokes on their Valentine's dinner date.
  • Ladykiller in Love: Settles down once he begins to fall for Abby, and is hesitant to become intimate out of fear it will ruin things between them. He fully embraces his side where he seeks romantic love because of this.
  • Lovable Sex Maniac: Deconstructed. While well-liked by everyone, his antics end up crossing the line into unprofessional territory and it nearly costs him his job. It serves as a wake-up call that he needs to address his problem.
  • Married to the Job: As pointed out after his injury, Buck has no life outside the firehouse. No hobbies, no other friends, even his relationship with Abby is tied back to his job.
  • Mistaken for Gay: With Eddie. Also, in the crossover, TK thought Buck was flirting with him when Buck was just being friendly.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Has numerous shirtless scenes throughout the show.
  • Mysterious Past: Initially, pretty much nothing is known about Buck's past, and the few details we do have—estranged from his parents, entered SEAL trials but dropped out, backpacked internationally—plus some behaviors such as complete pop culture ignorance and a quiet but noticeable refusal to discuss his past only serve to raise more questions. He finally gets a backstory episode and more scattered details revealed in season 4.
  • The Perfectionist: He becomes the worst combination of this and Drill Sergeant Nasty when he holds a clipboard. Nobody likes it whenever Buck is in this mode. Eddie finds it a little amusing though.
  • Real Men Cook: He's becoming this, with help from Bobby.
  • Rescue Romance: He enters two. Neither works out.
  • Sex Addiction: Is self-diagnosed to be suffering from this.
  • Sympathetic Adulterer: Zigzagged a bit. Someone loyal like him cheating is meant to show that his life at the moment is a mess his relationship with Taylor is not fulfilling in some ways. However, he loses another point by trying to force through the relationship after the confrontation with Taylor about the kiss he shares, basically trapping Taylor in the relationship he very well knows is shaky. He becomes this again after Taylor reporting Jonah's incident despite being told not to by Chimney and Hen which makes the 118 especially Bobby and him under investigation, breaking Buck's trust in the process and showing that he and Taylor are incompatible.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Boy howdy, the season two finale through the early episodes of season three were not kind to Buck.
  • Walking Transplant: It's revealed in Buck Begins that his parents gave birth to him so that they could have a suitable bone marrow donor for their other son Daniel who suffered from leukemia. Sadly Daniel died anyway, and Maddie was prohibited from ever telling Buck this until later on.

    Edmundo "Eddie" Diaz 

Edmundo "Eddie" Diaz

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/edmundo_diaz.png

Profession: Firefighter

Played By: Ryan Guzman

Appearances: 9-1-1 , 9-1-1: Lone Star ("Hold The Line")

A new firefighter introduced in Season 2, Eddie joins the 118 in order to provide for his son, Christopher, whom he loves very much.
  • The Ace: A big part of the reason why Buck initially dislikes him. The guy is just good at everything he does.
  • Action Dad: Eddie is a firefighter and a single dad.
  • Action Hero: Crosses over with Experienced Protagonist. Aside from firefighting, he has already done multiple tours in Afghanistan as a Combat Medic.
  • Agent Scully: Eddie is the skeptic of the team. He's the only one who doesn't believe in the "jinx" on the team, or in any curses or cursed objects.
  • Always Someone Better: Buck initially can't stand him, because Eddie seems to be better than he is in every way.
  • Brutal Honesty: Eddie does not sugarcoat anything to anyone.
  • Cool Aunt: Eddie is very close to his Aunt Pepa, and to his Abuela (when she lives in town.)
  • Combat Medic: He served as one prior to leaving the military.
  • Good Parents: Justified and Deconstructed. Feeling guilty over panicking and leaving on duty to provide for the family shortly after Christopher's birth, he swore to be there for Christopher all the time after Shannon leaves him. However, the guilt coupled with his tendency to repress his feelings, make him put Christopher's needs above everything including his own to the point that he doesn't know what he truly wants by making decisions without careful thoughts.
    • He tries to go back with Shannon because he knows Christopher misses his mom, but when Shannon ask Eddie to define the relationship, he stumbles to propose to her as if being with her himself isn't what he really wants. The same thing happens with Ana, as he tries to justify his relationship with her just because Christopher loves her so much he thinks he eventually will fall in love with her, implying he isn't truly in love with her from the start.
    • He decides to leave the 118 after seeing that Christopher is worried about him getting killed on the job.
  • Heroic BSoD: After trying to repress his emotional trauma for too long, he finally loses it in Fear-o-Phobia after he learns the comrades he saved during his deployment in Afghanistan that earned him the silver star all died after the incident, thrashing his room. Christopher has to call Buck for help.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: He's introduced in the premiere of season two.
  • Latin Lover: Averted. He's extremely handsome and quickly earns the attention of women, but it's Eddie who makes it clear that he isn't interested. As it turns out, it's because he's still in love with his ex-wife.
  • The Lost Lenore: Shannon is this for him. Twice.
  • The Medic: Part of his role in the 118.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Shares this duty with Buck. Hell, his introduction scene is him wearing t-shirt in slow motion with the main cast except Buck singing his praises over his veteran status or his 8-pack.
  • New Meat: He's the new recruit in the first episode of Season 2.
  • Odd Name Out: As Buck points out when he first arrives, it's odd in the sense that he's the only one on the team who doesn't have a nickname. Subverted that Eddie is already his nickname and that his real first name is Edmundo.
  • Papa Wolf: Fiercely protective of his son, Christopher.
  • Real Men Cook: Initially known to be bad at this, quitting his firefighting duties and tips from Linda give him more than enough chance to fix this flaw. His cooking ends up being praised by Buck and Taylor when they come over for dinner.
  • Real Men Get Shot: Between his backstory overseas and the penultimate episode of season four, Eddie is something of a bullet magnet.
  • Repression Never Ends Well: Eddie does this quite a lot, from repressing his emotions so badly he nearly accidentally kills someone in an illegal fight club to suffering from panic attacks over unaddressed trauma from the shooting at the end of Season 4. He goes so far to tell the doctor who treats him that he has no new stressors in his life, and Chris has to be the one to tell her about the sniper.
    Eddie: He's dead. And I'm not. I don't even think about him anymore.
    Doctor: That could be called repression.
    Eddie: Or just moving forward.
    • Eddie's conversation with Bobby about Shannon's death is a pretty great summary of this.
      Bobby: Control? That's what this is about, right? You're the guy who always keeps it together, no matter what life throws at you. You shake it off, keep moving forward.
      Eddie: Lots of people have it worse.
    • This coping mechanism finally stops being effective in Fear-o-Phonia.
  • Sex with the Ex: Starts sleeping with his estranged wife after he tracks her down.
  • Struggling Single Father: He is raising his son alone, and often struggles to find childcare. Buck solves the childcare problem by introducing Carla to him.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Eddie ticks every box of this trope.
  • Technophobia: After a relatively creepy encounter with Hildy during one of the emergencies in "Future Tense", Eddie develops a mild case of this as he bans any form of electronic technology in his house for a short while. He's gotten better as he's seen later having a virtual date with Ana on a laptop 5 episodes later.
  • Tough Love: Leans towards this to everyone not named Christopher, especially with Buck after his blood clots prevent him from returning to duty. It's very much something he got from his father. This lessens as the series goes on.
  • Tranquil Fury: He displays this in 5x06 when Mitchell the prisoner threatens to track Christopher down and harm him if he doesn't comply to his demand in contrast to Buck's anger outburst.

    Ravi Panikkar 

Ravi Panikkar

Profession: Firefighter

Played By: Anirudh Pisharody

Appearances: 9-1-1

Newest probationary firefighter for the 118.
  • Heroic BSoD: While off duty he attempted to rescue a family in a drowning car. He was able to save the father, but only one of the two children. In a rare twist on this trope, it wasn't the child he couldn't save that haunted him, it was the fact that he did save the father, who Ravi subsequently learned tried to kill himself and take his children with him.
  • Littlest Cancer Patient: He explains to Hen in season 5 that he spent much of his childhood in hospitals and undergoing chemo.

    Lucy Donato 

Lucy Donato

Profession: Firefighter

Played By: Arielle Kebbel

Appearances: 9-1-1

A daring and bold firefighter from Firehouse 147 who transfers to 118 as Eddie's replacement at the second half of Season 5.
  • Glory Seeker: Downplayed. While not as severe and twisted as Jonah, she shows tendencies of liking the exposure she gets from her job. She's very proud of being on TV for the bombed family truck emergency in "Outside Looking In" and the reason she's not happy with the save she does on the beginning of the "Dumb Luck" because she thinks that the woman she saved should've died in most scenario, upset that she saves someone because of luck not because of her own skill.

Former Members

    Jonah Greenway *SPOILER ALERT* 

Jonah Greenway

Profession: Firefighter/Paramedic (former)

Played By: Bryce Durfee

Appearances: 9-1-1

A paramedic brought in by Bobby as temporarily replacement for Chimney when he goes to look for Maddie at the second half of Season 5. Hen dislikes him solely because she thinks he's permanently replacing her best friend. It's revealed later that his heroic act of saving a school bus driver suffering from a heart attack makes him thirsty for glory that turns him into trying to recreate the situation as an adult, the reason he becomes a paramedic.
  • Creepy Child: The beginning of his flashback shows him drawing a man beheaded by guillotine and rambles to a girl who asks him about the drawing how cool the execution method is.
  • A God Am I: The thrill of saving the bus driver twists into this, as he demonstrates by stopping Chimney's heart and then use defibrilation on him TWICE.
  • Engineered Heroics: The exposure he got for being a child hero turns him into this. He administers drugs to stable patients to induce cardiac arrest and then performs resuscitation so that he can get the praise. The reason it goes unnoticed for so long is because 1) The drugs he administers are drugs that do help patients with cardiac arrest (despite the lack of cardiac arrest symptoms and dose detail given on the report) and 2) He moves from firehouses to firehouses to cover his tracks.
  • Hey, You!: Hen calls him "Monday" because she always finds different people replacing Chimney every Monday, but Jonah unfortunately sticks around so he gets the nickname instead.
  • I Have Your Wife: Hen initially thought the reason he called her in Hero Complex was because he planned on invoking this. Turns out he's kidnapping Chimney.
  • Lack of Empathy: His response to Claudette's death lacks remorse and regret for not being able to save her, instead saying "I usually save them." This makes Hen suspicious, thinking that Jonah did something to Claudette before her death. She's right.
  • Shout-Out: His character arc is most likely inspired from Niels Högel, a former nurse who killed hundreds of people with similar modus operandi.
  • Walking Spoiler: A good chunk of his character is him having a hero complex, so tough luck avoiding it.

LAPD

    Police Sergeant Athena Grant 

Police Sergeant Athena Grant

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/athena_grant.png

Profession: Police Sergeant

Played By: Angela Bassett

Appearances: 9-1-1, 9-1-1: Lone Star

An LAPD Sergeant trying to figure out what's best for her family after her husband reveals he's gay.
  • Amicable Exes: Divorced her husband of 14 years in "Karma's a Bitch", but she and her ex-husband Michael become this almost immediately after their divorce. Michael encourages her relationship with Bobby, and Athena grows to like Michael's boyfriend Glen, bonding with him over dinner. Seasons later Michael wants to propose to his boyfriend David, Athena gives him her blessing and helps him pick out a suit for the occasion.
  • The Beard: She is unknowingly this for her husband. She had an inkling he might have been gay but dismissed the thought because she loved him and wanted to have children.
  • Deadpan Snarker: How she handles her job as a cop, and often has to deal with stupid people.
  • Incompatible Orientation: The reason she and Micheal got a divorce. He was gay.
  • Kinky Cuffs: It seems like she finds enjoyment in playing with handcuffs in bed.
    • In season 1, Athena and her new lover tried to play this with the bedposts...only to accidentally cuff them both. Athena has to secretly call Abby to call Hen ("911 is the only number I know!") to get the key to her handcuffs within her reach because she wants to continue
    • In Season 5, she takes out her handcuffs in front of Bobby during dinner together to subtly suggest they use them in bed.
  • Mama Bear: She won't tolerate anyone hurting her family, and is willing to use her authority as a police officer to protect them.
  • Meaningful Name: She absolutely fits her namesake, the Greek goddess of Wisdom and War.
    • Invoked when Hen warns Bobby about Athena's mother.
  • Missing Child: A missing childhood friend that comes up time to time again throughout the show becomes Athena's primary motivation in becoming a police officer. This particularly incident finally gets solved in The Devil You Know.
  • Official Couple: With Bobby, as of "Under Pressure" they have been dating for 4 months. As of "This Life We Choose" they get married.
  • Relationship Upgrade:
    • She and Bobby become an item in “A Whole New You”.
    • They then get married in “This Life We Choose”.
  • Secret Relationship: Tries to make her relationship with Bobby this because she feels ashamed of her failed marriage and the stigma that comes with it and dating again in 2x01. Michael talks her out of it and she finally is willing to make the relationship public at the end of the episode.
  • Ship Tease: Between herself and Bobby. It becomes real starting from "Under Pressure"

    Captain Elaine Maynard 

Captain Elaine Maynard

Profession: Police Captain

Played By: Claudia Christian

Appearances: 9-1-1

Athena's direct superior.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: She recognizes Athena is a good cop and can sympathize with the latter's motivations behind some of their actions and decisions that end up saving the day, but will still delve out appropriate punishments when those actions and decisions break protocol or are out of line.

911 Operators

Current Operators

    Maddie Buckley 

Maddie Buckley

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maddie_buckley.jpg

Profession: 911 Operator

Played By: Jennifer Love Hewitt

Appearances: 9-1-1

A 911 operator as of Season 2. Buck's older sister and later Chimney's girlfriend.
  • Anger Born of Worry: She initially, though while very much a Nice Girl, has a string of hostility and paranoia about her because of her trauma as a survivor of domestic violence.
  • Big Sister Instinct: To Buck on multiple occasions. One notable case is when she had declined to go with Buck after he offered to take her with him because her husband had viciously assaulted her the previous night, and she knew Buck would confront him. She couldn't bear the thought that he could be killed by her husband and thus refused to even see Buck.
  • Cool Big Sis: To Buck who looks up to her.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Was married to an abusive husband who would go violent on her, even for the slightest mistakes she makes.
  • The Dog Bites Back: After living in fear of Doug, her abusive ex-husband, for so long, she decides she's had enough of his violence, and fights back against him upon getting kidnapped to be killed. It culminates with her killing him.
  • Domestic Abuse: She moved to LA to get away from her abusive husband, who had promised to kill her when she left him.
  • Hospital Hottie: She was a nurse before moving to LA.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: She's not introduced until Season 2, with Buck never even mentioning her in the first season.
  • Properly Paranoid: She is utterly terrified that her husband will break into her new apartment and kill her to the point she can't sleep some nights. He found out where she was living in “Merry Ex-Mas”.
  • Put on a Bus: Suffering from post-partum depression and after a scare that briefly endangers her daughter's life, she takes off and disappears out of fear she's a danger to their daughter. (Real Life Writes the Plot as a set up for a pregnant Jennifer Love Hewitt's maternity leave)
  • Relationship Upgrade: She and Chimney get together in late season two. She ends up pregnant in Season 3, giving birth in Season 4.
  • Remember the New Guy?: A justified example. She's never mentioned by Buck in season one because they'd been estranged and low contact for three years when she abruptly shows up in the season two premiere.
  • Sex with the Ex: She sleeps with Chimney in Let The Games Begin after a movie marathon session.
  • Ship Tease: She has a crush on Chimney, as shown in “Dosed”. They eventually become an official couple.
  • Shrinking Violet: She is a trained nurse, but didn't want to work with people when she came to LA. Somewhat justified, since she doesn't want to deal with the possibility of running into her abusive husband.

    Josh Russo 

Josh Russo

Profession: 911 Operator

Played By: Bryan Safi

Appearances: 9-1-1


  • Big Brother Instinct: Towards May when she begins working at the call center.
  • Characterization Marches On: He's rather blunt and standoffish in his first appearance, but as he gets more screentime he's shown to be compassionate and good-hearted. He also begins to take on more leadership roles.
  • Gay Best Friend: To Maddie.
  • Innocently Insensitive: He curiously asks Sue why she and her husband chose not to have kids when discussing Maddie being their fifth parent among the operators. He immediately apologizes for it, but she's not offended.

    Sue Blevins 

Sue Blevins

Played By: Debra Chistofferson

Appearances: 9-1-1

911 Operator Supervisor at the Los Angeles Service Center and boss to Abby Clark (formerly), Maddie, Josh, and May.
  • Benevolent Boss: She's the reason Josh became a 911 operator after she helped save his life in an emergency. When she ends up in the hospital after being deliberately hit by a car, the dispatchers give her a round of applause once she returns to the Center.
  • Oh, Crap!: Her expression turns to one of pure horror when she realizes that in the chaos of Dispatch catching fire, she completely forgot that May and Claudette were still in the building.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Like most of the other characters in positions of authority, Sue is able to empathise with the dispatchers but will also lay down the law if they overstep their boundaries.
  • Team Mom: Is very much considered a mother figure by the other dispatchers and in turn, she will not hesitate to intervene if one of her own is in trouble.
    Sue: I have kids. A floor full of them.

Former Operators

    Abigail “Abby” Clark 

Abigail “Abby” Clark

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/abigail_clark.png

Profession: 911 Operator

Played By: Connie Britton

Appearances: 9-1-1

911 operator of Season 1. A 42 year old woman trying to take care of her mother. She later befriends and starts dating Buck after he helps in a call during the Pilot.
  • Age-Gap Romance: Has one with Buck in the first season. She’s sixteen years older than he is, but for a while they made it work.
  • The Caretaker: Was this along with Carla to her mother diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments, like this comment after her first date with Buck went wrong when he started choking on bread:
    Abby: It was all going great till I had to cut a hole in his throat.
  • The Dutiful Son: She takes care of her Alzheimer's-stricken mother at the expense of herself.
  • Put on a Bus: Leaves for Europe at the end of Season 1, following her mother's death.
    • The Bus Came Back: Returns at the end of Season 3 with a new fiancé, and manages to get closure with Buck.

    Gloria Wagner 

Gloria Wagner

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gloria_wagner.png

Profession: 911 Operator

Played By: Christine Estabrook

Appearances: 9-1-1

A 911 operator that takes Maddie under her wing, when she first arrives.
  • Beneath the Mask: Gloria puts out a friendly and welcoming front, but underneath that she is a bitter old woman, who hangs up on people calling for help.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Gloria seems to have it all figured out, and even offers Maddie a muffin when they meet. Then we see her slowly begin to reject call after call with rude, insensitive, and even racist remarks. She gets better.
    Gloria: If you were really going to jump, I doubt you'd be calling me.
  • Broken Pedestal: She is this to Maddie. Maddie really thought that Gloria was someone to look up to, as she had been in the 911 operator job for years and seemed to have it all figured out, but her true colours are shown when her previous recorded calls are heard and Gloria is heard being rude, insensitive and even racist to people calling for help.
  • Firing Day: Is fired in “Awful People” and could be facing jail time for interfering with emergency calls.
  • The Mentor: It looked like Gloria was going to be this for Maddie, showing her to balance the stress of their work with living life. But that is not the case by the end of the episode.
  • One-Shot Character: Averted, as she returns later in the season in "This Life We Choose".
  • Tragic Villain: She qualifies as this, as it's heavily implied that she was a good operator at one point. But that all changed eight months prior to "Awful People" when, on the same day her husband had served her with divorce papers, she had to deal with a very bad "dead-end call" (a 9-1-1 call in which the caller inevitably dies no matter what the operator does to help); in this case, the caller's workplace was being shot up by a disgruntled ex-client, and Gloria, upon hearing the gunshots getting closer and unable to face the inevitable, cut off the call. From then on, hanging up on callers just became easier and easier for her, until she was exposed by Maddie and fired. After this, she begin harassing Maddie nonstop with calls and texts, even manipulating a 9-1-1 from her call to Maddie, until while doing this, she ends up in a car accident. Believing that she is going to die, she confesses the reasons behind her decline, and is surprised and touched when Maddie not only sends help for her, but stays on the line to listen and be there for her, even in spite of her actions. This ultimately leads to her...
  • Took a Level in Kindness: By her second appearance in "This Life We Choose", it's revealed that she has taken a plea to avoid jail time, and she appears with along with many other callers that Maddie had helped in her time at the call center. Gloria reveals that by not hanging up on her following her accident despite Gloria previously harassing her over being fired, Maddie showed her how wrong she was to hang up on people, especially regarding the "dead-end calls", whom Gloria believed that there was nothing that could be done for. She admits that she now knows that there was something she could've done for them: listen to them and be there for them to the end, so that way they wouldn't have had to spend their last moments of life all alone.

    Claudette Collins 

Claudette Collins

Profession: 911 Operator

Played By: Vanessa A. Williams

Appearances: 9-1-1

A veteran 911 operator brought in as Maddie's temporary replacement.
  • Establishing Character Moment: She doesn't wear dispatch uniform and then calls May "fetus" the moment she saw her, establishing her character as a bully superior who doesn't play by the rules because she's great at her job.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: She may be harsh toward May, but she can pinpoint where May's doubt toward her future career lies instantly.
    Claudette: Yeah, and because if you were sure you wanted to be a dispatcher for the rest of your life, you'd have already thrown that letter away.
  • Tough Love: Her angle in being very tough on May is because she saw greatness in her that deserves a proper place to shine, but not the dispatch center.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: Other than her pyrophobia and being a bully to May, nothing else is really known about her. Lampshaded by May after her funeral when she said Claudette has a life outside being an operator she doesn't know about and a family who loves her.

    May Grant 

May Grant

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/may_grant.png

Played By: Corinne Massiah

Appearances: 9-1-1

May Grant is the daughter of Athena Grant and Michael Grant. As of ‘This Life We Choose’, she is also the stepdaughter of Bobby Nash. She joins the dispatch team on Season 4 as part of her gap year, but then quits at the end of Season 5 when she chooses to continue her college education.
  • Ascended Extra: She starts playing a more active role in season three, even becoming a 911 operator.
  • Driven to Suicide: Was so severely bullied that she attempted suicide at 14.
  • Taught by Experience: As a 911 operator, she gets a call from a girl who is suicidal and using the 911 number to leave a sort of note behind. When May figures out that she's taken a bunch of pills, she remembers her own overdose attempt, and uses it to save the girl. In her words, when you take a bunch of pills, you do it where you're alone, and she figured out that the girl was likely in a bathroom because of the echo she heard in the call.
  • Took a Level in Badass: By the time the fourth season rolls around, she's much more confident and sure of herself than in the past, and becomes a capable 911 operator.

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