6 ‘9-1-1’ Storylines That Would Be Affected by the Coronavirus in Season 4

As writers’ rooms are prepping new seasons of TV, one of the big questions for anything medical or first responder-related is simple: Will there be a coronavirus storyline?

As Season 3 of 9-1-1 came to a close — one of the shows that had filmed all its planned episodes — showrunner Tim Minear told TV Insider that they were already discussing what to do on it and its spinoff, Lone Star. “What I don’t want to do is ignore it, but I also don’t want the show to become about that,” he said.

“Probably what you’ll find is when we come back, our characters will have been through what our audience has been through. They will have been through this period of quarantine,” he continued. “They will have learned what the protocols are to get by in day-to-day life,” including those for first responders. That will impact the way they go about answering calls.

The new season — not set to air until the midseason — will still have to address the ongoing storylines from the past season, but plans for those may have changed depending on where these characters are in the pandemic. Scroll down to see which storylines, from 9-1-1 dispatcher Maddie Kendall (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and firefighter Howie “Chimney” Han’s (Kenneth Choi) growing family to possible career changes to a potential crossover, could be affected by any type of coronavirus storyline.

9-1-1, Season 4, 2021, Fox