We’ve seen Dr. Ben Warren (played by Jason George) do a lot of things over the years on Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19: serve as an anesthesiologist, fight fires, and be a good husband and a swell dad. One thing we haven’t seen him do is audition for a new gig and start a third act in life. That all changes with last night’s episode, “I Can See Clearly Now,” which finds Ben in the exciting but challenging position of interviewing for a residency spot with Bailey’s nemesis Sydney (Kali Rocha). And let’s be frank: Those vying for the role tend to be young — that certainly won’t stop Ben Warren, though.
Of course, with Station 19 concluding earlier this year and Ben being both an alum of Grey’s and married to Bailey (Chandra Wilson), having George return to Grey’s made total sense. The circumstances of Ben’s return, however, are novel and represent a new chapter in Ben’s story and, in some ways, people like him who take the bold step of starting over in life in middle age. Shondaland caught up with George recently to talk about Ben’s next steps, how Ben’s new role will affect his marriage, and what it was like working without the firefighter gear he’d been wearing for years (spoiler alert: Scrubs are way comfier).
MALCOLM VENABLE: Well, I guess I’ll start by saying welcome back!
JASON GEORGE: It’s good to be home. The whole “Ben-ly” household is fighting to get back in at Grey Sloan. And so, this was fun because Ben has a moment where somebody says what many people feel, and that’s that Ben keeps switching up careers so much, and he’s not serious about anything. Ben has a moment to go off and really stand up for himself and kind of say, “It’s all part of what I’m trying to do.” There’s a lot of different ways to try and solve the same problem. My [Ben’s] problem is I want to help as many people as possible. I want to be of use to people. And being a firefighter was part of that. Being a doctor is part of that.
MV: Why do you think the writers didn’t just have Ben come back as an anesthesiologist again?
JG: I think Ben has passed that. I think part of what happened when Ben and Bailey met was he fell in love with this woman who was a baller, and he got inspired. He realized that when he was an anesthesiologist, he was just collecting his money and going home. It’s a very delicate job, but it is very straightforward. He wanted to get into surgery because he wanted to solve whatever the problem was. That same mentality is what got him cutting people’s chests open with a clipboard and running into burning buildings. Now he’s back here; he doesn’t want to lay back. He still wants to charge in, but now with the scalpel.
MV: I imagine that shooting scenes at Grey Sloan is much easier than running around with fire equipment on.
JG: It’s way easier. It’s, like, 50 pounds-plus of gear. We had people get ready to drop! The helmets were 12 pounds. They started to get us fake helmets to get them down to, like, 4 or 5 pounds. Who wears a 5-pound hat?! Going to work in pajamas [scrubs] is pretty cool.
MV: This really spoke to me in terms of people who change careers after 40, or after 45. I mean, it used to be that by age 40, and definitely 45, people are trying to push you into a nursing home. But that’s still young, and you arguably are feeling your best and sharpest ever at this age. What do you think this storyline represents in terms of somebody being able to start over at this age or, frankly, any age?
JG: Part of what makes Grey’s Anatomy lovable is that it’s always been so relatable. When you’re starting something new, you’re drinking from a fire hose of information. You feel like you’re failing, you’re fighting. You’re trying to find your people for support. That’s medical students, that’s high schoolers, people in college, people starting a new job at whatever age, and that’s the relatability of the show. Ben is a perfect example of how it’s never too late to go back and try to course correct. And so, his fearlessness at doing that — the fact that he throws himself in, knowing he’s going to get knocked down a bit — without that, it wouldn’t be interesting. You’ve got to deal with that all the way through life. Rather than seeing it as hard, look at it like if you’re not trying something new, you’re dying. Even just a new place for dinner, a new drive home a different way. Try new exercises. Keep trying new things. That keeps you sharp.
MV: On Station 19, we saw Ben dealing with the effects of just getting older in years. It was more pronounced because the work was obviously much more physical, but now he’s in the same sort of class, so to speak, with people who are probably young enough to be his kid. How’s Ben gonna deal with having colleagues much younger than him?
JG: The truth is, I can still outrun most of the interns. That’s facts [laughs]. But as a doctor, Ben is like, “You’re younger. Maybe I need more sleep than you do. But experience is the point.” There’s confidence and a level head. This is a job where you need to keep your head about you. And I have the edge of experience on that. And it’s fun because in some of the episodes, you start to see Ben already exhibiting that leadership a little bit, where it’s like, “Look, I’ve been there, done that. None of this is worse than what I’ve seen.”
MV: It struck me that Ben is like a lot of people who are multifaceted and multitalented, which can be a blessing and a curse. You can do a lot of things, but to other people, you might look fickle and flaky or uncertain, which is what Sydney says to Ben initially …
JG: … and he unloads on her that beautiful speech. I love that speech because we all grew up knowing that old saying, “A jack of all trades is master of none.” But there’s more to that. There’s part of the saying that people washed away. The full saying is “Jack of all trades, master of none, though oftentimes better than master of one.” Which is to say, that’s a hell of a lot better than being a master of one. Being good at a lot of different things, you’re the Swiss Army knife of people. Yeah, you are useful in a lot of different situations. You can still find within those things, you’re good at what you excel at the best, right? You’re gonna pick a specialty as a surgeon, but don’t ever get it twisted and think that I’m just kind of following whatever way the wind blows. His goal is to help people. Being an anesthesiologist was easy for him. Becoming a surgeon was harder and challenging, and he realized that what he really wanted to do was be there when people first get hurt: “Let me use my skills as a surgeon to maximize your chances of living.”
MV: How will this role affect Bailey and Ben’s relationship?
JG: She’d spent the last few years worried to death every night about whether or not he’s going to come home. You don’t just turn that off because he’s not running into the buildings anymore. So now, she’s still got this whole big level of worry ready to go someplace, and he’s refiguring out this job. She’s going to worry about him and how he’s doing, but he’s also got to find his own way, and so the friction can come from a whole new version of “How do we find this work-life balance?” He does know what he’s doing, but he’s also got to find it his own way as he relearns how to navigate this hospital with all the changes and new faces. Bailey has to let him figure out how to navigate that, and their new work-life relationship, because as soon as we leave here, it’s you and me, but here, you know, you got to give me space. It’s also fun because for the last few years, if Ben showed up on Grey’s Anatomy, it was just to do the Ben and Bailey storyline, and vice versa. When she came over to Station 19, it was just to support Ben and Bailey. But now Ben can pop into the story for Jake Borelli, for Kim Raver, and I get to work with these actors that I love. So, Ben and Bailey have to figure out [their dynamic], but Ben has to figure out who he is with Teddy and all the other relationships in the mix.
