Warning: spoilers ahead for the Season 5 premieres of 9-1-1 and The Resident.
Premiere week is finally here and Fox has definitely delivered some intense episodes. Both 9-1-1 and The Resident entered their fifth seasons within a day of each other, but following the premiere episodes, some fans are convinced the two are connected in some way. The first responder series and medical drama both centered their premieres on a ransomware attack and although the severity of the attack is different, fans think there's more to the story.
In 9-1-1’s premiere, Los Angeles slowly starts to see some technological fails, from false cell phone alerts to accidental 9-1-1 calls to GPS navigations going haywire. Soon the entire city goes berserk and a hacker demands $25 million, indicating that it is indeed a ransomware attack. Meanwhile on The Resident, Chastain Park Memorial has their own ransomware attack, when each department and unit in the hospital are slowly overtaken by a hacker demanding $5 million, and then $10 million, leaving patients in a literal life and death situations. While the latter managed to solve its problem toward the end of the episode, 9-1-1 is just getting started, as the city experiences a blackout. Despite all this, some fans cannot stop talking about the connections.
Could it just be a coincidence that two popular Fox shows with some similar elements have basically the same plotline in their premiere? Possibly, but one fan on Twitter thinks that the writers from both shows are sharing ideas with one another:
It should be mentioned that in 9-1-1, it was revealed that these ransomware attacks were happening in multiple cities, including Atlanta, which is where The Resident is based. Again, it could be a coincidence but this could also mean the two shows, as well as 9-1-1: Lone Star, are based in the same universe, as one fan pointed out:
It’s hard to tell whether or not this really was accidental and coincidental, since both 9-1-1 and The Resident are very similar shows. However, there are some fans that think this was planned from the start. Could they be setting up for a potential crossover? At least someone on Twitter thinks this was on purpose:
Wait…. First @911onFOXand now @ResidentFOX BOTH ransomware attacks on their season premiere??!!!!! Did you all plan this???
Even before the premieres, Fox may have been setting up a crossover. Last week, the network held their first Fan Hub, where stars from Fox shows were interviewed by 9-1-1: Lone Star’s Ronen Rubinstein. One of those stars included Manish Dayal from The Resident, and although it wasn’t the crossover fans had hoped, it was better than nothing:
Although 9-1-1, Lone Star and The Resident take place in completely different cities, it wouldn’t be too out there if the three, or at least two of them, were to cross over. As a fan of all three shows, I would love nothing more than to see The Resident enter the 9-1-1 universe. But will it ever happen? Fingers crossed!
