Connie Britton isn’t taking emergency calls anymore on ‘9-1-1,’ but Jennifer Love Hewitt is answering

Y’all, it’s true that Connie Britton will no longer be answering emergency calls on Fox’s breakout hit “9-1-1” when it returns this fall, but Jennifer Love Hewitt has her headset firmly in place—and she hopes to keep it there for a while.

With Britton caught up in a romance with a “Dirty John” in the upcoming Bravo series based on the Los Angeles Times investigative project, the former “Ghost Whisperer” star is joining the second season of “9-1-1” as Maddie, the sister of firefighter Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark) who becomes a 9-1-1 dispatcher while trying restart her life after leaving an abusive relationship.

“She has had a little bit of a tough time,” Hewitt said Thursday while promoting the series at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Beverly Hills. “She comes to her brother pretty broken and bothered by what’s been happening in her life … sort of through his guidance and brilliance, [she] becomes a 911 operator.”

Angela Bassett and Peter Krause are returning to the procedural that explores the high-intensity world of first responders.

The series mark’s Hewitt’s return to TV following her one-season run on “Criminal Minds” in 2014 and also serves as her return to the Fox fold almost two decades after starring in “Party of Five” and its spinoff, “Time of Your Life.” If all goes right, she said, her stint on “9-1-1” won’t yield an emergency exit.

“As long as this show is here, I will be here — if I don’t screw it up,” Hewitt said. “I’m super grateful to be here. It’s been really lovely so far.”

As for Britton, who had signed on for only one season of “9-1-1,” there had been talk that she would possibly return in a guest-star capacity. But it seems that won’t be the case — at least in Season 2.

Producer Tim Minear doesn’t rule it out in the future, though.

“The door is always open for Connie’s return,” Minear said. “We love her, we’d love to see her back.”

The second season of “9-1-1” premieres on Fox on Sept. 23.

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