‘9-1-1’: Abigail Spencer Talks Twists of Amber and Working With Jennifer Love Hewitt

Meredith Jacobs March 14, 2025, 7:30 am

Abigail Spencer as Amber — '9-1-1' Season 8 Episode 10 'Voices' — Disney/Christopher Willard

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 10 “Voices.”]

The moment Abigail Spencer was revealed to be playing a missing persons detective on 9-1-1, we had a feeling there was more to the character (or, at least, the storyline) than meets the eye. Such was the case: The first of the two-parter ended with her kidnapping Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt).

The thriller concluded with Episode 10, in which Amber held Maddie in her basement — she had multiple personalities, and it was Peter who called 9-1-1 as John and whom the dispatcher had spoken to. When Maddie’s husband Chimney (Kenneth Choi) went to Amber’s to talk to her about the investigation, it was just as Athena (Angela Bassett) realized who was really responsible for a string of kidnappings and murders. Maddie, with her throat slashed, was the one to save Chimney by hitting Amber over the head. Then, Athena saved Chimney while he was busy treating his wife’s injury by shooting Amber and killing her.

Below, Spencer talks about the twists and turns of Amber. (Plus, read our deep dive into this episode with Hewitt here.)

What did you know about this arc when you signed on? Did you know the entire thing?

Abigail Spencer: No, I didn’t actually. I would say one of the things I really enjoyed about the experience was there’s a little bit of giving over to what Tim [Minear] and Ryan [Murphy] and the whole Murphy-verse is doing with the show and to be really available to what happens. And there’s something really beautiful about that. What they did do is pitch me an arc of the two episodes. They pitched me an arc. They told me that was based on a real killer. And so I was just like, “Oh, that’s really interesting.” Because I’m going to come on, and the hope — and it sounds like this is kind of what has been happening — is that people are like, “Oh my God, a new detective for the Angela Bassett-Abigail Spencer spinoff of a buddy cop drama?” [Laughs] Because that’s how I thought. I was like, “Am I in a buddy cop drama by Angela Bassett? Just sign me up? Thank you so much!”

And then there’s a twist, and I thought that was really smart to take the audience in one direction and think it’s going to be one thing. I would believe it if I was on the show and joining the cast and, hey, Jennifer, I love all these people, so happy to be here, so fun. And then for it to go in another direction is classic Ryan Murphy to me and really brings in the horror elements of the show. What I noticed about the tone is because of the sensational fear around it, it really is about these first responders. It’s about their lives, it’s about them, it’s about being a first responder. But what’s so great is one episode might be a romantic comedy. One episode when I was watching it, I was like, one episode might be a thriller, one episode might be a drama. So I was like, oh wow, there’s just permission. And this episode, the second in the two-parter, really does become horror. And I thought that was really cool and Jennifer Lynch, the director, she was wonderful and the right gal for the job.

Jennifer Love Hewitt as Maddie and Abigail Spencer as Amber— '9-1-1' Season 8 Episode 10 "Voices"

Disney/Christopher Willard

Talk about working with Jennifer again because you did one episode of Ghost Whisperer and then your scenes together in this episode are so intense.

I know, I know! And it’s so funny because Jennifer and I, we’re such silly gals. We’re the silliest, we were dancing and singing between every scene, which is what is hilarious. But that just goes to show the capacity, I would say, to Jennifer Love Hewitt, and she’s been entertaining the world for her whole life. And I was very taken with her commitment and I felt like it was my job to be there for her, to really be there for her. And you want, “If I’m going to be trapped in a basement with anyone for a week, I’m glad it’s you.” And also to be able to be these two women at the center of the story, I think is very important to show that on television. I think also she was just tremendous. I mean, she can do backflips with her tears, how do you do that? And we had to give over to it. We had to give over. And she knows the show so well. I mean, the Maddie fandom is real. It is just always a delight. I love what I get to do for a living and I mean, honestly, my favorite part is just working with actors in my community and getting to support them and see their good work. So if I can be a little part of that, I’m so happy.

You played multiple characters because there’s Amber, there’s Peter, then there’s the public facade as the detective, too. So what was your approach to those three different characters, essentially?

Yeah, yeah, it was becoming a running joke. I was like, “Okay, here’s John.” I’d be reading the script. I’m like, “Who’s this guy? Where’d this personality come from?” This is a real disorder. At the end of the day, we have to honor, this is a real disorder. And I did reach out to my community who worked with multiple personality disorder-affected humans and ask them, and they were like, “This is real, very, very real.” And some of my friends who are therapists will work with a client who has this, and one session will come in and the second session they will literally look and sound totally different. It’s sad. I mean, it makes me really sad.

So I think just holding that at the center of it and also giving over to the — we only have so much time. What do we have, 47 minutes to tell the story? So I think that’s what you’re being judicious with is, what do we have to get in, how many do we show? We have to be good stewards of material given and get a lot across in a little bit amount of time, and we’re shooting very quickly as well. So it’s a great challenge and they do it so well at 9-1-1. And I was curious to see how it would all come together.

Did Amber regret kidnapping Maddie, or did she not have time to?

I don’t think Amber’s the regretful character. I actually think, Peter, I mean if you want to get into the psychology — underneath it, Peter is the really affected one. And then Amber has her own story, and it’s a way to survive. So I think that there was a lot of, it was all leading to this, right? It was all leading to this. And not to be, but John, like Peter presented as John, John said, he didn’t want to do all these things. So it’s very, look, I mean, it’s hard to, in the little of the time you and I even have together to get into it, because it’s so layered and it’s so based on trauma, all of this is how trauma reveals itself over time if untreated and it’s horrible. I mean, it’s horrible what she did, and you can try it, but there’s no excuse at the end of the day. But my job is not that. My job is to just represent the character as honestly as I can in the tone of the show that I’m given, and to just be connected to my scene partners at all times.

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Do you think Amber had any hesitations about killing Chimney? Because from the moment she let him into the house, that had to be her plan.

Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. I think hesitation is a really interesting word. I think she’s now just trying to save her own ass. So who knows? I mean, maybe we could give her credit for hesitation for the humanity, but I think all of that is such a mystery. And I think it probably depends on which personality was coming forward at the time. I mean, it was really nuanced. We were on set of like, “Who am I again in this scene?” So I’m glad that it sounds like you’re tracking and that people were tracking the character. So I just feel like that’s a huge win.

9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC