Canceled ABC Show Reveals Netflix Almost Saved the Series: “We Were So Close!”

Say it isn’t so! There have been rumors for a while that Station 19, the ABC spinoff to Grey’s Anatomy was almost saved by Netflix, but show stars Danielle Savre and Stefania Spampinato confirmed during a convention that yes, Station 19 was almost rebooted by Netflix after cancellation. And it’s hard to tell if that will serve as a comfort to fans, or if it will just make them feel even worse.

The show, which ran for seven seasons on ABC, was a spinoff of the long-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. That show has aired 20 seasons and will be returning to ABC for a 21st season in the fall. Station 19, unlike Grey’s Anatomy, focused on a group of firefighters, not doctors. It existed in the same universe as Grey’s Anatomy and had multiple crossover events and one main connecting thread with that show in Dr. Ben Warren, played by actor Jason George.

George appeared as Ben Warren on Grey’s Anatomy starting on Season 6, becoming a series regular on Season 12, before exiting the series to help launch Station 19. In that show’s series finale, however, the character gives up his dream of being a firefighter to return to his medical career. George will return to Grey’s Anatomy as a series regular during Season 21.

Fans, however, would have loved to continue to see Ben Warren on Station 19 and Miranda Bailey, his wife, on Grey’s Anatomy. However, ABC decided to cancel the show after season 7 – leaving Grey’s Anatomy as the only Shonda Rhimes show left on the network’s schedule after Rhimes left the network for an exclusive deal with Netflix. Though there have been no details about why the deal with Netflix didn’t ultimately work out, Savre and Spampinato did indicate it was “so close” when they discussed the show during this latest convention.

It wouldn’t have been the first show to be saved by Netflix. The streamer famously saved NBC’s Manifest, giving the drama a fourth and final 20-episode season to tie up loose ends. Other shows saved by Netflix include Designated Survivor and Lucifer, the latter of which got as many seasons on Netflix as it did on FOX, three. More recently ABC saved 9-1-1 after it was canceled by FOX, with the show becoming the highest-rated drama on ABC.

Next: Will there be a Maya and Carina Station 19 Spinoff on ABC?

“It’s amazing what you’ve done for Station 19,” Spampinato said, adding “The Netflix thing was a chance for a second, because of you.” Savre agreed with the sentiment, and though the actress is now moving on from the show – she has joined the second season of Found – that doesn’t mean there isn’t a great deal of love and respect for what Station 19 has meant for her and for everyone who has been involved with it.

“It’s been such a gift to play Maya Bishop,” Savre said last year at another fan convention, visibly emotional as she thanked fans for coming along on the journey that was Station 19 with her.

Spampinato, who played Savre’s on-screen wife, Carina, was very emotional in a clip shared on the show’s official Instagram page in May. “Most of us were crying,” she said. But she wasn’t ready to say goodbye then, not truly. “I feel like maybe it’s not a full goodbye, maybe it’s like till soon,” she explained. “Let’s leave it at that. No goodbyes.”

Netflix almost came through and made that a reality. Almost. There’s no word in the English language more painful than almost.

Station 19 is available to stream on Hulu.