Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Tim Minear, ABC’s 9-1-1 is a procedural show that follows the work and personal lives of the firefighters at the 118 and their colleagues at the LAPD and the 9-1-1 dispatch center. Now in its eighth season, 9-1-1 has found its niche in stories that bring serious emotional impact, bizarre disasters, and moments that make the audience laugh. With a cast led by Angela Bassett and Peter Krause, 9-1-1 has garnered an audience that followed them from FOX to ABC — during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, no less — and continues to show up week after week.

9-1-1‘s main characters include LAPD Sergeant Athena Grant-Nash (Bassett) and Fire Captain Bobby Nash (Krause), firefighter-paramedics Henrietta “Hen” Wilson (Aisha Hinds) and Howard “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi), firefighters Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark) and Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz (Ryan Guzman), and 9-1-1 dispatcher Maddie Buckley-Han (Jennifer Love Hewitt). Beyond their jobs as first responders, 9-1-1 also makes a point to give viewers a glimpse at the personal lives of the main characters. In large chunks of Season 7 and Season 8, so far, 9-1-1 has spent time with Hen Wilson’s family, which includes her wife and her two children. In Season 8, Episode 5, “Masks,” Hen’s son, Denny, is hurt while trick-or-treating, putting his life in grave danger.

Who is Denny Wilson?

Denny Wilson, played by Declan Pratt since Season 1, Episode 5, “Point of Origin,” is the son of Hen and Karen Wilson (Tracie Thoms). The biological son of Hen’s ex-girlfriend, Eva, and a one-night stand, Denny was adopted by Hen and Karen right after his birth. The adoption was an easy yes for Hen, as she knew Eva couldn’t take care of a baby, and though Karen was more skeptical at first, she came around. Hen and Karen’s relationship became stronger after adopting Denny, and raising him has obviously been one of their greatest joys. When his biological father, Nathaniel Greene (Troy Winbush), showed up in Season 2, Episode 5, “Awful People,” Hen and Karen became concerned that he would try to take Denny from them, but he just wanted to know his son — on the Wilsons’ terms.

In 9-1-1Season 6, Episode 10, “In a Flash,” Denny began asking questions about his mother because he thought he saw someone who looked like him. Eva had long since left Los Angeles, but Hen and Karen answered whatever questions he had, and Hen even tried to find pictures of Eva. By the end of the episode, Denny had discovered the information about Nathaniel that Hen and Karen had tried to keep from him and began to secretly build a relationship with him. Hen and Karen found out in Season 6, Episode 13, “Mixed Feelings,” after Denny and Nathaniel got into a car accident and ended up at the hospital. Karen and Hen were furious at first, particularly at Nathaniel, because he promised he would let them set the terms of his relationship with Denny, but eventually, they decided to let them maintain a relationship because it made Denny happy.

The Wilson Family Has Been Through a Lot

In Season 2, Episode 18, “This Life We Choose,” Hen and Karen began to talk about expanding their family. They spent the beginning of Season 3 attempting IVF treatments, but in Season 3, Episode 5, “Rage,” they lose six embryos and learn that Karen is unable to produce viable embryos. The loss hits Karen harder than it hits Hen, and Karen’s response has an impact on their family life as she won’t get out of bed and even yells at Denny unnecessarily. It begins to stress Hen out so much that she loses focus on the job, and Chim calls her out on it. Things finally seem to be getting better when Hen drives through a red light — lights and sirens on and having hit a button that is supposed to change the color of the other streetlights — and hits the car of a teenage girl named Evelyn with her ambulance in Season 3, Episode 8, “Malfunction.”

Though the LAFD ultimately finds Hen “not responsible” as there had been a malfunction in the system, preventing Evelyn’s light from changing, Hen struggles to return to work after the accident. Karen steps up to support her, and Hen returns to work in Season 3, Episode 10, “Christmas Spirit.” In that same episode, the 118 arrived at a scene where a young boy was giving his mother CPR. The boy ended up in a group home over Christmas while his mother recovered, and it inspired the Wilsons to become foster parents. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic began, they brought home Nia, who was around two years old.

In Season 4, while Hen was beginning medical school, the Wilson family continued to foster Nia. Around the year mark, Karen and Hen began to hope that they might be able to adopt Nia, but instead, their family went through the process of returning Nia to her biological mother. It was difficult for all of them, and though Hen initially did not want to foster anymore, eventually, they changed their minds — led primarily by Denny, who wanted to share his moms with kids who needed family. All those moments led to Season 6, Episode 18, “Pay It Forward,” when they learned they might be bringing home a baby girl to foster briefly and hopefully adopt.

Hen and Karen Wilson Completed Their Family in Season 7

When Season 7 rolled around, Hen and Karen were told that the grandmother of the baby they were going to foster had decided to take the child, but the social worker hoped they might be able to take home someone else. In Season 7, Episode 5, “You Don’t Know Me,” they brought home Mara, a 9-year-old girl who dealt with some serious trauma early in her life. Things weren’t easy — Mara was non-verbal and occasionally reacted violently when she wasn’t sure how to communicate something. But eventually, Hen and Karen found the key to connecting with her, and she became part of their family.

Unfortunately for the Wilson family, things were not immediately easy once Mara became part of their family. Thanks to a meddling councilwoman, Hen and Karen briefly lost not only custody of Mara but their foster license. Mara was torn from their home in Season 7, Episode 9, “Ashes, Ashes,” and though Maddie and Chimney were able to foster Mara temporarily to keep her out of a group home, that decision nearly prevented Hen and Karen from ever being able to bring Mara home again. Eventually, with help from the entire 118 and some undercover work to stop the councilwoman, Mara finally returned home in Season 8, Episode 4, “No Place Like Home.”

Denny Saved His Sister on Halloween

When Mara first joined the Wilson family, she and Denny connected pretty quickly, even while she was still non-verbal. He was the most understanding about her violent outbursts, and he was able to help her communicate with Hen and Karen when she wasn’t talking to them much yet. He also nearly fights one of the social workers who takes Mara in “Ashes, Ashes,” so in Season 8, Episode 5, “Masks,” it’s really no surprise that Denny’s injury comes from trying to protect Mara while out trick-or-treating.

When the 118 is called to the scene of a car accident, they have no idea that they’re about to find Denny in danger. At the same time, Chimney sees Jee-Yun, his daughter with Maddie, standing with Mara, and Hen sees Karen leaning over the hood of a vehicle that has run into a home. The driver, a high school principal who was erratically chasing some teenage girls who egged his home, is dead, and Denny is pinned between the vehicle and the home. Initially, it seems like he might have just hurt his leg, but when they start to lose his pulse, it becomes clear that there are some serious internal injuries. Karen, who shares a blood type with Denny, becomes a live donor at the accident scene until they can finish stabilizing the house and tow the vehicle away. Without the efforts of every member of the 118, Denny very well could have died. Instead, after surgery, Denny comes home to his family with some scars and a broken leg. The Wilson family is finally whole and happy — at least, for now.