Congratulations might soon be in order for our favorite 9-1-1 couple! Will Maddie and Chimney get engaged in 9-1-1? Keep reading to learn if he’ll pop the question in Season 6 and what the showrunner has in store for Maddie and Chimney’s relationship.
9-1-1 is FOX’s popular TV series that follows firefighters, paramedics and other emergency personnel at the Los Angeles Fire Department’s fictional Station 118 in Los Angeles, California. It was announced in May 2023 that the procedural will move from FOX to ABC for Season 7, TV Line reported. The Season 6 finale will air on Monday, May 15, 2023. The show also stars Angela Basset, Peter Krause, Oliver Stark, Aisha Hinds, Jennifer Love Hewitt and more.
Actor Kenneth Choi plays Howard “Chimney” Han, the firefighter paramedic assigned to Station 118. He’s portrayed Chimney since the first season debuted in January 2018. He’s in a relationship with Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays Maddie Buckley (formerly Maddie Kendall), the sister of firefighter Evan “Buck” Buckley and a trained nurse and 911 operator who moves to Los Angeles, California, after leaving her abusive husband, Doug Kendall.
The couple met in Season 2, Episode 6, when Buck asked Chimney to help move Maddie into her new apartment. They shared their first kiss in Season 2, Episode 17, after they survived an attack by her ex-husband. Following the incident, Chimney and Maddie started dating officially, but they took a few breaks to deal with the trauma that occurred. In Season 3, Chimney told Maddie that he loved her. Although Maddie felt the same, she said that she couldn’t say the words because of her previous relationship.
Maddie learned she was pregnant with Chimney’s child in Season 3, Episode 18, “What’s Next?” Maddie gave birth to her and Chimney’s baby, a daughter named Jee-Yun, in Season 4, Episode 9, “Blindsided.” After the birth of Jee-Yun, Maddie started to suffer from postpartum depression and decided to leave Jee-Yun and Chimney to move to Boston, Massachusetts. (Hewitt’s hiatus from 9-1-1 was a result of taking maternity leave after the birth of her son, Aidan.) Maddie and Chimney reunited in Boston six months after their move. They broke up on their way back to Los Angeles after realizing they’ve grown apart. Maddie and Chimney get back together in Season 6, Episode 1, “Let the Games Begin,” after Maddie tells Chimney, she’s “done running.”
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in April 2023, Choi opened up about Chimney and Maggie’s romance, which has had its many ups and downs since they first got together in Season 2. “I owe everything to her because it’s given me so much to do as an actor,” Choi says of his costar Hewitt. “They’ve gone through so many trials and tribulations throughout their relationship, and to play all of those kinds of conflicts, for an actor, it’s such a joy.”
Will Maddie and Chimney get engaged in 9-1-1?
Will Maddie and Chimney get engaged in 9-1-1? There is a good chance that Maddie and Chimney could get engaged sometime before the Season 6 finale. We thought it was going to happen in Season 6, Episode 16, “Lost & Found,” when the promo showed Chimney with an engagement ring. But as the episode transpired, more issues started to arise that prevented the engagement from happening.
The episode started strong with Chimney and Hen going ring shopping. She helped him choose a ring and they went back to the firehouse to tell everyone that he was proposing. When they were on a call, Chimney started having second thoughts about proposing. He was worried because Maddie’s already been through a bad marriage and she might not want to rush into a marriage again. Hen didn’t talk Chimney out of the rut he was in, which angered Maddie’s brother, Buck. Chimney was going to return the ring when they got a call at a landfill. At the landfill after taking inspiration from one of the men, he decides that he wants to propose again (but the ring is nowhere to be found, and it could very well be lost in the landfill). Thankfully, the ring was later recovered by their baby, Jee-Yun, who found the ring between the cushions on a chair in the living room. (Jee-Yun got it from her dad after visiting the firehouse earlier with Maddie.) Despite the cute moment that would have warranted a sweet proposal in their home, it didn’t happen.
In the previous episode of 9-1-1, “Death and Taxes,” Maddie and Chimney both get letters that they are both being audited after the IRS discovered a few problems with their returns. They both listed themselves as the head of the household and their daughter Jee-Yun as a dependent (and there some other issues, too). When the couple brought in an accountant to refile, he told them if they file together, they can save $14,000. All they have to do next year before they file is to get married.
“I think Chimney and Maddie are two people who are a little wary of pulling the trigger and making really big life decisions, and this inciting incident is going to force both of their hands,” Choi told Entertainment Weekly about the situation. “So I don’t know what’s going to happen, but the writers love to throw a lot of conflict their way.” The episode concluded with Chimney looking at engagement rings for Maddie.
9-1-1 showrunner Kirsten Reidel also told Entertainment Weekly in April 2023 that Maddie and Chimney are “on the path” to an engagement, but “it’s not necessarily a direct line.” “There might be a few twists and turns to come,” she added. She also said that “there’s just something about seeing these two people together that makes you love them and want to root for them.”
Will Chimney gets down on one knee in Season 6, Episode 16, or will there be obstacles (like Reidel teased) that might postpone the engagement to a little date? Tune into the May 1, 2023, episode to find out.
