Jennifer Love Hewitt Says Playing Rogue AI Voice Sara on “9-1-1” Gave Her “M3GAN” Vibes (Exclusive)
- - Jennifer Love Hewitt Says Playing Rogue AI Voice Sara on “9-1-1” Gave Her “M3GAN” Vibes (Exclusive)
Sabienna BowmanJanuary 15, 2026 at 9:00 PM
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Disney/Christopher Willard
Jennifer Love Hewitt on '9-1-1'
Warning: This post contains spoilers for the 9-1-1 episode "War"
Jennifer Love Hewitt breaks down the 9-1-1 season 9 episode "War" with PEOPLE
The actress shares that playing a rogue AI call operator named Sara gave her major M3GAN vibes, referring to the 2022 horror movie
"It has her voice, which is even scarier because it almost feels like a M3GAN kind of situation," Hewitt says
Jennifer Love Hewitt pulled double duty on the Thursday, Jan. 15 episode of 9-1-1.
In "War," Maddie (Hewitt) found herself facing off with an AI 9-1-1 operator named Sara, who was also voiced by the I Know What You Did Last Summer star. While Sara initially seems capable of doing the work of human operators faster and more efficiently, she soon goes rogue, putting the lives of Los Angeles residents in danger.
In the end, Maddie uses her very human skills as a 9-1-1 operator to convince Sara to take a vacation on a thumb drive, which she promptly destroys in a scene that Hewitt, 46, says was a blast to film. "It was really funny to just be mad at a thumb drive," she tells PEOPLE.
Disney/Christopher Willard
Jennifer Love Hewitt (left) and Bryan Safi on '9-1-1'
In fact, filming the entire episode was quite the experience as the actress spent a lot of time arguing with herself as Maddie and Sara engaged in a battle of wills for control over the call center.
"It was pretty funny because obviously Sara handles things so differently than Maddie," Hewitt explains. "So, in a lot of the stuff, Sara's doing something, Maddie's cutting her off, or Maddie's doing something and Sara's cutting her off. And then, I'm yelling at myself as Sara, but I'm Maddie. And then, I had to talk Sara down and Maddie down at the same time. So, it was very confusing, but it was a lot of fun. [Showrunner] Tim [Minear] likes to give me challenges."
In addition to echoing real world conversations about the possibility of AI replacing real people in the workplace, the episode also reminded Hewitt of the 2022 hit horror film M3GAN, about an AI doll that gains self-awareness and refuses to let anyone get between her and her human companion.
Disney/Justin Stephens; Geoffrey Short/Universal Pictures
Jennifer Love Hewitt on '9-1-1' (left); 'M3GAN'
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"She's caught off guard," Hewitt says of Maddie. "She did not know that this Sara AI person was coming. And then, it has her voice, which is even scarier because it almost feels like a M3GAN kind of situation where it's like, 'Girl, you better not have my voice.' "
While the episode takes the concept of AI replacing human jobs to an extreme place, the Ghost Whisperer alum was excited to see the show tackling such a timely topic.
"AI is such an important conversation that we're having in the world, but it's also a really scary conversation," the star says. "On the one hand, there are really talented AI artists out there doing these incredible things and you have to have respect for that. Then on the other, you're able to do some really scary things with AI that I don't know, as a mom, I worry about for my kids."
The episode is also a pivotal one for Maddie, because the call center is her "safe space," according to Hewitt. "Anything for her really that happens at the call center to sort of threaten that safe space for her is big in her world ... she ran there in complete life peril and found safety at that call center and it needs to stay that way for her," she says.
Disney/Christopher Willard
Jennifer Love Hewitt on '9-1-1'
Still, the over-the-top direction the episode goes in did lead to plenty of funny moments off-camera. "In this episode, I am literally talking to myself, which is hilarious," Hewitt laughs, adding that she initially thought she would be playing off an AI-generated voice.
However, Minear "made the decision that it would be much more sort of threatening and scary to Maddie if it did in fact sound like her," leading to an ADR session where the actress "essentially" just talked to herself.
As for whether or not Sara could spawn a sequel à la M3GAN, Hewitt says "there's always a possibility," but she thinks "Maddie gets her for good."
New episodes of 9-1-1 air Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. on ABC, and stream the next day on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
