'9-1-1' Signals the Beginning of a Brand New Era With Its Season 10 Premiere | Review

Published Oct 15, 2026, 9:02 PM EDT

Jennie Richardson is a TV Features and Lists Writer for Collider, and a graduate student pursuing an MFA in Fiction Writing. In other words, she really loves stories. 

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Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for 9-1-1's Season 10 premiere.9-1-1 is officially back, and its return marks a major milestone for the hit procedural as it kicks off its tenth season. Season 9 was a season of transition for 9-1-1, and the Season 10 premiere, "That Sinking Feeling," puts all of last season's changes into action. Like every season before it, Season 10's first episode sets up its annual opening emergency by first focusing on what the main characters have all been up to in the three months since we last saw them. Athena (Angela Bassett), May (Corinne Massiah), and Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) have all started new jobs, broadening the show's focus to include the hospital, Athena's detective investigations, and Maddie's work with management.

The result is a 9-1-1 that feels a little different. Even ahead of the volcanic emergency that's already been teased, the calls in this episode all feel faster-paced and higher-stakes. Athena, May, and Maddie's new jobs bring a different perspective and show new sides of the calls that we haven't seen before. All of the first responders are forced to make difficult decisions that have no easy answer. The result is an intense, action-packed episode that proves that change isn't always a bad thing. By broadening its focus in regard to the calls, the episode makes the calls feel particularly suspenseful in a way that's fresh and captivating. Still, though, the heart of the episode is our first responders, who are all dealing with compelling emotional conflict – some related to work, and some outside of it.

'9-1-1's Season 10 Premiere Ties a String of Disasters Together To Set Up the Volcano

Season 10 of 9-1-1 opens by focusing on several groups of people who are all out on the road during what initially appears to be a sinkhole collapse. The episode does a good job of establishing these characters and making viewers care about what happens to them. Every member of the 118 on this call gets their moment to step up and save someone, and ultimately, all of those impacted make it out alive. Later, Maddie attends her first post-mortem review, because she's still running dispatch while Sue (Debra Christofferson) recovers from her stroke last season. The meeting is run by Ty Worrell (Rob Huebel) from the Office of Emergency Management, and he's more concerned with the damage that the sinkhole did to the city than the lives that the 118 saved. He pushes everyone to try to figure out if there were warning signs ahead of the sinkhole, and Maddie realizes that there was a 20% uptake of calls in the surrounding area in the two days leading up to it.

Later, the 118 tends to a call at an aquarium where someone working there was burned by unusually acidic water. They save the aquarium employee, and then Maddie and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) later realize that this is just the latest in a pattern of strange incidents that seem to be connected to the sinkhole. When Maddie brings this to Worrell, he dismisses her. The next day, though, he calls Maddie about a strange noise coming from the rapidly growing sinkhole. The 118 tends to it and saves everyone, but it then explodes with lava, revealing itself as a volcano.

In '9-1-1's Season 10 Premiere, Eddie Is Concerned About Buck's Parenting Choices

Image via ABC

Last season of 9-1-1 ended with Buck deciding to foster Theo (Lincoln and Theodore Sykes), and the Season 10 premiere reveals that he has been parenting Theo since then. Eddie (Ryan Guzman) shows up at the hospital after learning that Buck (Oliver Stark) is there for his fifth non-work-related injury in the last three months. Buck lies to the doctor and says that he's been tripping a lot, but really, Theo keeps accidentally hurting Buck from playing too rough. The latest injury is a broken nose, and Eddie is concerned about Buck's lack of discipline towards Theo. He tries to say something, but they're interrupted by Theo.

This all comes to a head later when Buck, Eddie, Christopher (Gavin McHugh), and Theo all get together for dinner at the Diaz house. It's one of the best scenes in the episode, showing that 9-1-1 can still deliver character-centered storylines alongside the heightened stakes of the work-related storylines this season. Buck and Eddie have a home-cooked dinner with their respective kids for what is clearly just the latest of many, and Theo plays by himself while the rest of them eat and compare their recent iPhone screen time. Along with letting Theo hurt him while he plays, Buck also lets Theo play with his cellphone whenever he wants, and he never says no when Theo wants to get ice cream.

Buck is clearly overcompensating after Theo lost both his parents, and he doesn't know how to put his foot down. Then, Theo accidentally knocks one of Christopher's crutches out from under him while playing with a basketball. Chris is okay, and Theo apologizes right away, but it's the symptom of a bigger problem: Buck still can't bring himself to discipline Theo. Buck instead tries to handle the situation by suggesting that he and Theo leave, to which Eddie agrees. Buck and Eddie don't get into a fight, and they don't get the chance to resolve this by the end of the episode, but it's clear that there is a big conversation coming for them about Buck's lack of discipline for Theo. Buck has always been good with kids, but he's never had to be the disciplinarian before, and this is a compelling storyline for the show to explore with him – especially considering Buck's constant injuries throughout his own childhood due to the lack of attention from his parents.

Image via ABC

While debriefing with May about each of their new jobs, Athena reveals that she's doubting her ability to be a detective. She has been wondering if she only got the promotion because she was shot on the job, and she is worried that she doesn't have what it takes to be a detective. Then, an unconscious and unidentified man is dropped off at the hospital, covered in suspicious burns with just an engagement ring in his pocket, so Athena brings the case to her new partner, Detective Jace Newell (Rick Otto). Athena and Newell go to the construction company where the man, Corbett, worked. As it turns out, Corbett got injured on the job, and two of his coworkers panicked and dropped him off at the hospital. Athena suspects that there's more to the case, but Newell encourages her to just accept the win and drop it.

Athena doesn't do that, of course, and she winds up uncovering the beginning of something big. Athena spends the night looking into the case, and she learns that Corbett's injuries don't line up with what he would have received from a work-related incident. Corbett's coworkers' work van also had suspicious activity recently. Athena's investigation then takes her to the high-end jewelry store where Corbett's engagement ring is from. The safe was robbed through a tunnel in the ground, so Athena goes inside to investigate, trapping her when the volcano interrupts. It's an excellent cliffhanger that sets up next episode's big opening emergency, while still leaving the mystery of Athena's case unsolved for now.

9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8:00 P.M. EST on ABC.

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  Athena Grant

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  Bobby Nash

Pros & Cons

• '9-1-1's Season 10 premiere fully commits to last season's changes, ushering in an exciting new era for the show.
• '9-1-1's Season 10 premiere has a solid balance of intense action and character-focused storylines.