Jennifer Love Hewitt Returning to TV in Fox's 9-1-1

This is Jennifer Love Hewitt's first TV gig since leaving Criminal Minds in 2015

By Chris Harnick May 14, 2018 8:37 PMTags
Jennifer Love HewittPaul Archuleta/FilmMagic

This is not an emergency drill: Jennifer Love Hewitt has joined the cast of 9-1-1. The Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer veteran is making her return to TV in the second season of the Fox drama from creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear.

This is Hewitt's first role since leaving Criminal Minds in 2015. Her other credits include The Client List, Hot in Cleveland, Time of Your Life and Party of Five. On the big screen she appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer, Can't Hardly Wait and Heartbreakers.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Hewitt will play Maddie, the sister of firefighter Evan "Buck" Buckley (Oliver Stark), who is starting her life over as a 911 operator. She will help fill the void left behind by season one star Connie Britton, who only had a one-year deal on the series and joined Bravo's upcoming Dirty John.

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"We will be bringing in some new faces, including one you all know and love but haven't seen in awhile, the incredible Jennifer Love Hewitt," Murphy told advertisers during the network's 2018 Upfront presentation to advertisers on Monday. "She's returning to Fox and I think you are going to see a whole new side of Jennifer."

9-1-1 stars Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Oliver Stark, Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi and Rockmond Dunbar as first responders, like police officers, firefighters and EMTs. Each episode deals with new emergencies while charting the personal lives of the first responders. The series was a strong player in the Nielsen ratings, netting an average of more than 6 million viewers without DVR playback factored in. The season finale, when DVR playback was included, had 11.2 million viewers and a 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

9-1-1 returns this fall and is moving to Monday nights at 9 p.m. and is paired with medical drama The Resident.