Is Angela Bassett leaving 911? Fans are worried more than ever after the show’s latest twist

911 fans are spiraling after an unexpected twist in the closing moment on the penultimate episode has them fearing the worst about Angela Bassett’s future on the show. 

Warning: The following post contains spoilers from 911 season 9, episode 17. 

It seems the 911 season 9 finale is going to be quite a nail-biter after the penultimate episode of the season delivered a pair of shocking twists, including one that left Athena’s fate up in the air. As the episode came to a close, Athena joined Detective Hooks and a slew of officers in storming the house of crime lord Nikolay Caster, who was behind the human trafficking ring the 118 stumbled upon earlier this season when responding to the apartment building fire where they discovered countless trafficked migrants being kept captive. 

As they breach the house, Hooks and Athena break off to find Caster, and Hooks goes ahead on his own into the room. We hear him shout "gun" and then hear shots fired. By the time Athena enters the room, she finds Hooks over Caster’s body, but there is no gun to be seen. Hooks alleges that he must have dropped it when he fell, but when Athena looks under the couch, it’s not a gun she finds but a cell phone. 

Athena picks up the phone and begins to point out how Hooks misread the situation, but before she can finish her sentence, Hooks shoots Athena. The episode ends with Athena falling to the ground as the promo for the season finale sees her fighting for her life as doctors race to save her in the operating room. 

The moment immediately sent shockwaves through the 911 fandom as they took to social media to express their shock and concern that the show might actually be about to kill Athena.

It is certainly understandable that fans are worried about Bassett's future on the show following the shocking conclusion to the penultimate episode of season 9. We've seen several major exits through the years and the show has proven it's not against killing off major characters.

Just last season, the writers shocked fans when they killed off Peter Kraus's Captain Bobby Nash in a moment that fans have still not gotten over. The death of Bobby was one of the biggest deaths in the franchise's history, and fans are understandably on edge still following the shocking nature of his exit.

Given that fans are still processing the death of Bobby, it seems unlikely the show would kill off Athena, but then again we never would have expected them to kill Bobby either. Still, writing Bassett out of the show would be a major blow to the show as it heads into season 10.

Athena is truly our main connection to the LAPD, and without her, the show loses a key element of its formula. It also would make no sense to kill Athena off just when the show finally puts a focus on Harry and May again, with Athena's kids becoming a much more central part of the storylines in season 9.

We also have to address how killing Athena in this manner would be such a disservice to the character. Athena has literally survived so many near-death experiences, and to kill her off at the hand of a dirty cop would be an awful way to have Athena's storyline come to an end on the show.

The good news is that Bassett has not hinted at wanting to leave the show, and we imagine that the writers will do everything they can to keep her around as long as she's interested in remaining on the show. After all, losing Bassett would be like the equivalent of Grey's Anatomy deciding to kill off Meredith Grey. This isn't something that the show's creative team would likely explore unless Bassett wanted to step away from the show, but even then we imagine if that day comes the show would find a way to leave the door open for her to return down the line rather than closing the door entirely.

We'll find out Athena's fate when the 911 finale airs Thursday, May 7, at 8/7c on ABC.

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