Jason George is starting to see art imitate life as he transitions back to a recurring role on Grey’s Anatomy following the cancellation of Station 19.
Seven years ago, George’s character Ben Warren left Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, where he’d been training as a fifth year surgical resident, to pursue his second dream of being a firefighter.
Now, Ben is back for Season 21, resuming his residency program at the hospital with a lot more experience and a bit of a different perspective on life — which is basically how George feels about returning to the ABC medical drama.
“I’m loving being back,” he told Deadline in a recent interview, admitting that it does feel a little “weird.”
“It’s like, there’s the house you grew up in, and there’s the house you made as an adult. It’s not like my mom’s house is not mine. That’s my journey. That’s where I grew up. But this is the house that I made with my wife,” he explained. “So they’re very different, but I love them both dearly and for different reasons.”
“Now that I’m back at Grey’s, it feels like being in your late 20s and coming back to live with your parents, but your parents are cool…you still come home when you want. You live your life as an adult, and you’re all good, but you’re in your room that you grew up in,” he continued.
In fact, George teases that Ben puts this feeling into words during one of the first episodes of the season, describing how “everything you’ve done comes with you, even it feels like you’re going backwards.”
George has been on Grey’s Anatomy since Season 6, and he was a series regular from S12-S14 before leaving to help launch spinoff Station 19.
While George hasn’t been around full time, he’s made guest appearances on Grey’s Anatomy over the past few seasons, as Ben is still married to former Chief of Surgery Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson). Ben’s Season 7 storyline on Station 19 also saw him tapping more and more into his medical skills while he questioned his future as a firefighter.
But there’s a different feeling to putting back on a pair of scrubs and stepping into an operating room, which both George and his character are experiencing again for the first time in years.
“The journey right now is very much mirroring each other for both Ben and Jason,” the actor said.
Season 21 of Grey’s Anatomy will premiere September 26. At D23 in August, showrunner Meg Marinis remained fairly cryptic about what’s to come, but she did indicate that Ben’s return to the fray would be quite swift.
“It’s not going to be a super easy journey for him, but we’re excited to have him back at around Grey Sloan,” she said at the time. She added that, as always, the season will have “some fun relationship” moments, which kick off in the premiere, as well as “some very fun event medical, very Grey’s Anatomy, shocking moments.”
