Grey’s Anatomy has us reaching for tissues in every episode. The long-running medical drama has brought in familiar faces back to the show for a moment.
The show had brought in one of the most beloved characters back for its premiere. They kicked off season 17 of Grey’s Anatomy with the return of Patrick Dempsey as Derek Shepherd. However, to our delight that was not all as we got to saw another character returning back to the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
The episode brought in T.R. Knight who played the loved character of George O’Malley. The character was killed off in the Season 5 finale back in 2009. The actor had joined showrunner Krista Vernoff to sit down and explain how the episode came out to be.
Apparently, George’s character was the very first character that Krista had thought of bringing back in one of Meredith’s dream sequences. The main character, Meredith, played by Ellen Pompeo, is battling with coronavirus in the show right now. She explained how the idea came to her as she was herself walking on the beach. The executive producer imagined Meredith walking with her feet in the water with George.
She continued, “That was the first image that came to me, and the joy that filled me up when it came, I believe, is translated on screen, and I believe we have given many millions of fans that moment of pure joy. Right now in our lives, in this pandemic, pure joy is rare, and so I’m so grateful to T.R. for coming and playing, and offering that to everyone because I think it’s meaningful.”
“It’s such a great way to remember him.”
Krista had pitched the idea to Ellen who was on board right away and suggested that they bring Patrick back as well. She shared how the characters were close on-screen as well as off-screen. The duo were the showrunner’s favorites and as a fan, it was her first idea. Krista explained. “I wanted to see George, so that’s where it started.”
As for Knight, he said that he was still trying to put into words about the experience. He shared that he missed the character and along with it the people he used to work with. The actor shared what he loved about Krista’s storyline for George. He said, “What I loved about what Krista did with George was, because Meredith is having this vision, for lack of a better word, of who George would be”.
Further explaining the character he shared how George is a complicated person and that is exactly what gave him a pleasure to play the character. However, the actor shared that Meredith is seeing the best of George. He explained, “She’s seeing his humor, his kindness, his generosity, and in this brief moment that you get to see him, it’s such a great way to remember him.”
Knight shared how special it was for him to share scenes with Ellen again as he described it as “wave upon wave of happiness”. “Krista said at one point during our long conversation she thought that this might, if this might offer closure, and I was like, Oh, I think that’s already happened,” the 47-year-old The Flight Attendant actor continued.
The actor explained what was interesting to him was what his husband said to him who he described as someone who is smarter than him. Knight shared, “We were talking about that idea of closure, and he was saying that sometimes closure’s shutting a door, and sometimes it’s revisiting a familiar room and finding what brought you joy. And it just hit me.”
However, we do not know if we will see George again, but Krista did promise fans to expect more heart-to-hearts between Meredith and Derek. She teased fans as she shared that the pair will have deeper, richer conversations as Meredith and George did.
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.
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