Don’t Be Fooled! 9-1-1 Season 8’s Death Tease Will Unlikely Be For Who You Think It’s Going To Be

9-1-1 season 8’s two-part thriller seems poised to finally kill off one of the original members of LAFD station 118, but the real death likely won’t be the obvious choice. Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) and his loyal team of firefighters — Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark), Howard “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi), Henrietta “Hen” Wilson, and returnee Ravi Panikkar (Anirudh Pisharody) — have been through their fair share of intense disasters in 9-1-1, but the epidemic danger they currently face is unprecedented. The two-episode event, known as 9-1-1: Contagion, spotlights the 118 facing off with a deadly pathogen, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.

Once Moira Blake — Bridget Regan’s 9-1-1 character — is fired for ignoring protocol by rapidly accelerating CCHF’ms incubation time, the SoCal Tech Biomedical Research Laboratory goes up in flames. The 118 responds to the call, only for tanks of isobutane to explode and send the laboratory (housing the expedited strain of CCHF) into emergency lockdown mode. Chimney’s protective gear is damaged in the explosion, and 9-1-1 leaves no room for speculation: Chimney is infected by CCHF and starts showing symptoms before the episode ends. Unfortunately, Moira stole the only antidote, setting up a time-sensitive mission for 9-1-1 season 8, episode 15.

9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 15 Teaser Hints At Chimney Being At Risk Of Dying

The Ensemble Mainstay Was Infected In “Sick Day”

Unfortunately, Chimney’s condition will get worse before it gets better based on 9-1-1: Contagion part two’s teaser trailer. Chimney began displaying symptoms of CCHF in season 8, episode 14, suddenly coughing up blood into his medical mask. The flashes shown of Chimney in the trailer confirm his symptoms are worsening, with blood coating the lower half of his face in one clip. Furthermore, Maddie Han (Jennifer Love Hewitt) — Chimney’s wife and the voice of 9-1-1‘s dispatch center — tells Bobby that the antiviral “was” Chimney’s only hope, implying their initial attempt to get the vial inside the lab fails.

Chimney has encountered many near-death experiences in 9-1-1, ranging from a piece of rebar stabbed through his skull in the pilot season to a narrowly avoided serial killer only a few episodes ago. CCHF isn’t even Chimney’s first time contracting a dangerous virus, as he missed his wedding ceremony during 9-1-1 season 7 due to an amnesia-inducing case of encephalitis. Of course, Chimney’s peril being familiar doesn’t make it any easier to digest. The lovable character has survived impossibly dismal situations before, but there’s always a chance that ABC will decide to do something drastic.

Bobby Is In Bigger Danger In 9-1-1 Season 8 (Assuming The Funeral Set Videos Are Correct)

9-1-1 Could Be Setting Up A Hero Moment

However, although the signs point to Chimney being in a potentially fatal position, Bobby would be much more logical as 9-1-1 season 8, episode 15’s dramatic death. Bobby’s possible death in 9-1-1 has loomed overhead for weeks since photos from a public set revealed a jarring upcoming scene: Bobby’s funeral. With Bobby’s turnout coat hanging next to a coffin and his wife, Athena Grant-Nash (Angela Bassett) dressed in all black at the front of the procession, it’s not a matter of if the funeral is Bobby’s; it’s a question of when the captain’s final march will air.

If Bobby is truly dying in 9-1-1 season 8, it would make perfect sense for the 118 captain to sacrifice himself for Chimney. 9-1-1 shows Moira only having one antidote for a reason; if any other team member is exposed to the virus in the next episode, only one will be able to take the antiviral dose, setting the stage for a heroic move that could turn the procedural’s father figure into a martyr. If the funeral isn’t a hallucination or nightmare sequence, 9-1-1 season 8, episode 15 would be the prime time for Captain Nash to die.

Is 9-1-1 Really Going To Finally Kill A Major Character In Season 8?

It’s Been A Longtime Fear

It may make sense within the narrative, but 9-1-1 has never killed a main character before. Ever since the long-running procedural moved to ABC, many have feared 9-1-1 would follow in the footsteps of the network’s greatest hits like Grey’s Anatomy, a title known for killing off even its most popular characters die. The first-responder drama certainly isn’t above hurting or even maiming its ensemble, with 9-1-1‘s gruesome injuries hard to stomach, but every injury has eventually led to a recovery. Though trauma runs rampant throughout 9-1-1, the characters have always made lemonade out of lemons through healing arcs.

Yet, there’s something to be said about 9-1-1 wanting to avoid complacency. If the characters always survive, there will never be any real stakes during the carefully crafted, high-octane emergencies. Nearly every character has unresolved storylines that would forever feel incomplete if they died (Bobby included) but that may be 9-1-1‘s intention. I’d argue it would be far braver for 9-1-1 to intentionally end the series with the main cast still alive, but the allure of shock value and emotional gut punches may prove too tempting to resist.