Crazy abusive ex-husbands, massive sinkholes, full moon chaos, scavenger hunt gone wrong, apartment fires, “9-1-1” will take viewers on twists and turns that do not seem possible until, of course, the 118, LAPD, and LA dispatch services are there to save the day. Then it is pretty normal.

#5 May Grant

Daughter of Athena Grant-Nash and Michael Grant.

Although May has not been a series regular for the entirety of the show, she has definitely left her mark. In season one, she is barely entering high school and dealing with the divorce of her parents; she is shown dealing with everything teenage girls deal with: bullying, peer pressure, angst, and betrayal. In the first season, May attempts to take her own life after the bullying gets to be too much, highly contributing to the real-life scenarios viewers might relate to. 

As the show progresses, her character gets somehow even more complex. College essays, her brother’s kidnapping, performing life-saving triage with her mom after an earthquake, the father-daughter bond with Nash, her character appears from time to time, but manages to make those couple of minutes insanely impactful. 

A moment that many viewers think is the ‘best May Grant’ scene is her homecoming. Athena, Michael, Harry, and May are all taking pictures together, with Bobby as the photographer. Michael invites Bobby to join in, but he politely declines, feeling like he is stealing their family moment. 

May then gently pulls him in to take a picture, reassuring him that he is, in fact, family. This scene is the fundamental pillar of the Bobby-May father-daughter relationship. 

Overall, May is the perfect embodiment of a teenage girl to a young adult in the bizarre life she lives.

#4 Maddie Buckley-Han

Buckley-Han is a mom, a wife, an older sister, a dispatcher, and an experienced nurse. Definitely not relatable, but it somehow makes the audience feel seen.

She has gone through the whole trauma spectrum: a murderous kidnapper, an abusive husband, victimizing parents, severe post-partum depression, and arguably the worst of all, having the most idiotic man in the world as her little brother.

When she leaves Doug, her husband, she moves to Los Angeles and surprises ‘Buck’, her baby brother. It is chaotic at first; she has no idea what to do or who to be, but slowly she gets on her feet and meets Howard Han, her brother’s co-worker. That is when she knew that her brother may not be the most idiotic man out there.

Buckley-Han and Howard did not have a fairytale meet at all; In fact, one could argue the universe itself was against these two being together with the amount of plot twists they were thrown. After twists and turns of husbands coming back, post-partum depression, stabbings, kidnappings, coming in and out of death, weddings gone wrong, in the end, they were together, much to the universe’s dismay and their daughters’ giddiness.

Maddie Buckley-Han found her passion in dispatch work, being able to help others on their worst day, because no one was there to help her. Her background and experience make her the best dispatcher there ever was. She is tough, calm, and collected in situations others could never imagine being in. She is the definition of a rockstar.

#3 Athena Grant-Nash

Aside from the fact that Angela Bassett portrays Grant, which in itself is reason enough for her high ranking, Grant is the most powerful, resilient, loving, out-of-this-world character on the show– and she is a cop…

SPOILER:

Having to deal with the death of not only one fiancé but then, nearly thirty years later, she deals with the death of her husband, Bobby Nash. Grant had lost a fiancée in her first couple of years in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Later, she went on to marry Michael Grant and had two kids, May and Harry. Years later, he decides it was not for him, and they get divorced, which is when she meets Bobby Nash.

It was as if fireworks went off as soon as they met.

Although they are arguably the best couple in the show, Grant is so much more than just his wife. She is a LAPD sergeant and the most respected woman on the show– by everyone. From insane mommy issues to commitment issues, Sergeant Grant has overcome insane obstacles in her line of work– and out of it, too.

She has been kidnapped, beaten up, stalked, assaulted, had her son kidnapped, had her house set on fire, and lost the three loves of her life. How she does it, and still manages to put up with Bobby? The world will never know.

#2 Chimney

Howard ‘Chimney’ Han. By far the funniest and most relatable character on the show. Chimney is the classic “hide behind humor type,” and he pulls it off really well.

One of the two paramedics on the 118, Han, has ironically gone through some of the worst accidents known to mankind. In the first season, after speeding down the highway, he gets into a car wreck and has a pole stuck through his head and miraculously survives. He is still relatable, though, promise. In season eight, the day of his wedding, he gets infected with a disease that makes him forget the past 20 years of his life. Very relatable. He also gets kidnapped and killed, then brought back to life several times in the course of only one hour.

Han has gone through everything, from family deaths to having to raise his daughter alone after his wife disappeared post-partum. Although Han has suffered through mind-blowing disasters–where, quite frankly, he should have died in–he always finds a way to make a dumb joke that got a couple of eye-rolls from his teammates and more than just a chuckle from the audience.

#1 Bobby Nash

The peepaw of the show, Robert Nash. From season one to season eight, Nash was the heart of the 118. The captain of the team, the dad of the group, the one everyone would go to for answers to anything— relationship advice, religious inquiries, and so forth.

Nash’s story starts in a small town in Minnesota. After his father passed away, Nash became an alcoholic. Later on, he became a firefighter, and after years of sobriety, Nash relapsed, and his drinking indirectly caused an apartment fire where his wife and two kids died.

Later, Nash made a promise to himself that, as a firefighter– after he saved 148 people in his line of work — the same number of people that died in the fire – he would take his own life. A sob story always wins over the audience, but it was not just his story; the way that Nash undeniably showed his guilt and never once tried to defend what he did made him the heart and soul.

His selflessness is seen throughout the show again and again. When his teammates were injured or when his family was going through something, he would always show up for them and risk his life continuously. That’s what made him so special to everyone around him. He was so undeniably loyal and self-righteous that it was almost annoying. Almost.

Although at first, his background makes him sound like a terrible guy, that is the problem. He made one horrendous mistake that visibly haunts him and will continue to haunt him, but besides that, Nash is a caring, loyal, resilient, charming, selfless man who is defined by his past mistakes. He is at the top because of the complexity of his character; he caused a terrible accident, which should make viewers despise him, but besides that one thing, he is an incredible human being. That makes him complex.

Tim Minear’s decision to kill Nash off in season eight was the worst mistake of his life.

Correction

Oct. 25, 2025

An earlier version of this article incorrectly credited the images to American Broadcasting Company. The images are courtesy of 20th Television.