Connie Britton’s character Abby Clark left “9-1-1” — and her boyfriend Buck (Oliver Stark) — at the end of its freshman season to go travel and find herself and live her best life. And the “Nashville” alum hasn’t returned to the Fox first-responder drama since. But now there’s some hope that Britton could be coming back to the show when its third season returns from hiatus this spring.
The series is building “to a very exciting return of a certain character for at least an episode or two” in the back half of Season 3, “9-1-1” showrunner Tim Minear told TheWrap during the Television Critics Association press tour Tuesday, while promoting the show’s upcoming spinoff, “9-1-1: Lone Star.”
When we asked Minear if the character is a dead one — just thinking of all the minor and slightly-not-so-minor characters that have kicked the bucket on this show and could return as a ghost or in a dream sequence — Minear said, “No, she is not deceased.”
OK, so it’s a she then. Are we talking about Connie, Tim?
“We might be,” he replied.
Britton’s reps did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment regarding her possible return.
OK, now on to what the current cast of characters on “9-1-1” will be up to when the show returns in March.
“We’ll hit the ground running, as usual,” Minear said. “We’ll pick up Michael’s story, of course, and what’s happened with him and how the family has reacted to the news.”
As fans know, Michael (Rockmond Dunbar) — Athena’s (Angela Bassett) ex-husband, who came out as gay at the beginning of the series — discovered he has a tumor in the winter finale.
“A thing I’m really excited about we started shooting today is ‘Eddie Begins,’ where we’re gonna tell the story of how Eddie (Ryan Guzman) won his Silver Star,” Minear added. “And also see a little bit of the formative time after Christopher (was born, back when he lived in Texas with [his deceased wife] Shannon (Devin Kelley). So we’ll tell that story. And we have some great emergencies coming up, of course, as always, coming up.”
And what about Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney (Kenneth Choi)?
“Maddie has made a lot of progress,” Minear said. “Chimney is gonna have some things to deal with when his younger half brother shows up from Korea. And Maddie and Chimney will really have to face what they mean to one another. And now Maddie is a lot freer to feel something. And then also we’ll see a little bit of the personal life of Josh, the character who is Maddie’s compatriot at the call center.”
“9-1-1” will return this spring on Fox. “9-1-1: Lone Star” premieres Jan. 19 on Fox.