Station 19 co-showrunner Zoanne Clack opens up about the return of an original character in the season 7 finale. The episode, titled “One Last Time,” marked the end of the line for the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff. Luckily, the show’s creative team knew about the cancelation ahead of time and were able to craft a satisfying farewell. Part of the finale featured flash-forwards, with the characters dreaming of their ideal futures, often several years down the line. Vic’s flash-forward showed her success with Crisis One and notably featured the return of Okieriete Onaodowan’s Dean, who died during season 5.
Speaking with TV Insider, Clack talked about crafting Vic’s flash-forward and Dean’s role in it. Her full response is below:
It was funny because we were looking for Vic’s flash-forward for a while. We knew that we couldn’t show her with Travis because we wanted that to be a surprise for Act 6, so that kind of ruined the initial flash-forward that we wanted to tell. But it was really important that we show that Vic really took CrisisOne. And, you know, we had this thing in Season 6 where she went back to school to get a psychology degree, and I really wanted to pay that forward. So, you’ll notice that she has a PhD in psych now, and she’s really taking the thing forward. What we felt was the most heart-wrenching and really got to your soul was to bring back the reason for all of it. The way that she moved forward and to know that Dean was proud of her was really the breakthrough that we had. Like, maybe the third day of filming, we were still kind of figuring out exactly how we wanted to tell that story, and then we realized that bringing Dean back would be an amazing conclusion and a very satisfying ending for her journey. We called him up one day, made our case, and he stopped us and was like “I’m there. I’m coming in.” He flew in from New York and made that moment really happen. It was beautiful.
Why Dean’s Return Was So Necessary in the Station 19 Series Finale
His character played a massive role in the show
Throughout its run, Station 19 maintained a pretty steady cast, especially compared to its parent series, Grey’s Anatomy. Of the nine main characters introduced in season 1, six were still there in season 7. That means every original character’s exit had a big impact on the show, especially Dean’s.
For one, he died in Station 19 season 5 after reviving Vic when she was electrocuted, and the two had grown close just before his death, even approaching a romantic relationship. For both of those reasons, Dean’s passing had a huge effect on Vic’s character trajectory. Additionally, because of Dean’s death, Ben and Bailey wound up adopting his daughter, Pru, transforming their stories for the remainder of the series as well.
The Station 19 series finale was hopeful overall, but Dean’s return helped make it appropriately bittersweet.
Considering Pru played her own role in Ben and Bailey’s flash-forwards, it makes sense Dean was saved for Vic’s. His return added heft to an already emotional series finale and served as a nice bit of fan service as well, as viewers often expect to see long-gone characters in a show’s last episode. The Station 19 series finale was hopeful overall, but Dean’s return helped make it appropriately bittersweet.
