Jennifer Love Hewitt knew from her first day on 9-1-1 that Maddie was meant for Kenneth Choi’s Chimney.

“I owe her everything for that,” Choi tells EW of Hewitt asking the Fox series’ writers to bring their characters together when she joined the show in season 2, something she discussed with EW in 2022. “She said it was because ‘it’s the most interesting choice.'”

That choice has led to four seasons of ups and downs as Maddie and Chimney’s romance blossomed amid trauma and then nearly fell apart after the birth of their daughter, Jee-Yun. (In reality, Hewitt took time off after giving birth in real life.)

“I owe everything to her because it’s given me so much to do as an actor,” Choi says of his costar. “They’ve gone through so many trials and tribulations throughout their relationship, and to play all of those kinds of conflicts, for an actor, it’s such a joy.”

Now the couple has a house — which will lead to some issues with the IRS in Monday’s upcoming episode, “Death and Taxes.” In a preview clip exclusive to EW, Maddie and Chimney must deal with their lack of communication over filing their taxes as an unmarried couple who owns a home and has a child together.

“It’s going to send us spiraling in such a direction that they’re going to have to come to a decision,” Choi says of the plot development.

So does that mean an engagement is on the way? “I think Chimney and Maddie are two people who are a little wary of pulling the trigger and making really big life decisions, and this inciting incident is going to force both of their hands,” Choi says. “So I don’t know what’s going to happen, but the writers love to throw a lot of conflict their way.”

While there’s conflict on screen, it’s smooth sailing for Choi and Hewitt when they’re not at work.

“I’ve gotten to know Jennifer, her husband, her children, all on a personal level,” Choi says of his costar, who is married to Brian Hallisay (a.k.a. her 9-1-1 ex-husband, Doug). “I love all of them and they all love me, so it’s been such a great journey professionally as well as personally with Jennifer.”

Choi’s sentiments echo the adoration Hewitt professed for her costar in that 2022 EW interview: “He’s really a family member to us. I adore him.”

“I just felt like they were two people who were sort of meant to be together,” Hewitt explained of why she wanted to be paired with Choi on 9-1-1. “I was just sort of thinking about who Maddie was and where I hoped she was going to go, and I think she was deserving of a Chimney in her life. I think anybody who wants to be in love deserves a really good person like him. I don’t know, it was just a gut feeling.”

9-1-1 season 6, episode 14, “Death and Taxes” airs Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Source: Entertainment Weekly