Reuniting with your family can be stressful, but for Maya (Danielle Savre) on Station 19, that common reality is taken to new extremes. The former fire captain was helping with the PRIDE parade in Thursday’s episode of the ABC drama when she saw a man in the group of white supremacists outside of the parade route who she believed was her brother.
Andy (Jaina Lee Ortiz) convinced Maya that maybe she was seeing things because all of the men were wearing masks. Later in the episode, Maya confirmed the masked man was her brother when she caught him running after a car backfiring turned the parade into a scene of chaos.
The episode kicked off a multi-episode arc that will see Maya have to come to terms with her brother’s hatred. This new horrifying information is coming to light as she and Carina (Stefania Spampinato) are trying to settle into motherhood with their newborn foster son, Liam.
Parade caught up with Danielle Savre to talk about Maya’s traumatic family reunion and what it means for Maya in the rest of Station 19 Season 7. 
We don’t get to see Maya with the baby much in this episode. How would you describe her as a new mother?
She’s excited and nervous, but also very ready. What’s beautiful is that she’s really gone on this journey and she’s embracing it. We’re going to see more of that as the episodes go on, how she embraces it and her version of embracing motherhood. Currently, in this episode, she’s just excited and getting comfortable with it.
How does seeing her brother at this Pride parade shake her? Does it change her viewpoints on how she and Carina should be raising a son?
It’s shocking. She’s really processing it the first time that she sees him. There’s a trajectory where she first sees him and doesn’t know it’s him, and then when she actually confirms it is him, she is still shocked and trying to process it all. I don’t think in this moment she fully understood what it means in raising her own son yet, but that will be explored. I think it’s just a complete shock. Coming face to face with that fact—you know, we haven’t visited her brother’s storyline in years, so I think it’s a shock and we’ll see where that storyline goes because we are going to get some intense stuff from it.
It was really nice to see Maya keep her calm when Andy started to pop off at the white supremacists. Why do you think Maya was able to keep her composure in that moment?
Maya has experienced this type of hatred before because she’s a queer woman. She’s less triggered in the sense that Andy is triggered and reacts. Maya’s experience is that she grew up with a father who never accepted her for being who she was. There’s an element of she’s not triggered in a reactive way because she knows engaging doesn’t solve anything. It’s more disappointing to see that happen. Every time she sees so much hate towards the LGBTQ community, she’s just hurt because it doesn’t make sense to her. She doesn’t understand why.
What do you want for Maya before you can say goodbye to this character?
Maya has gone on such a rollercoaster through seven seasons and grown so much as a person. I went into this season as a whole with Maya kind of being more at peace than she has ever been. Maya and Carina adopting Liam, being shocked by her brother being part of a white supremacist group, she’s handling everything pretty well so far and trying to use those years of therapy to be who she is now. I just want peace and happiness for her.
Related: What Happened to Jack Gibson on ‘Station 19’? Grey Damon Teases Character’s Fate After Crushing Diagnosis
Is Maya at peace with Andy being captain instead of her, or does a part of her still want it?
Andy is finally ready and she’s killing it. I think she’s happy for Andy and very supportive of her as captain. I think Maya will always be ambitious, but I think right now she’s taking a step back. She was always hustling, going to the next thing and never actually taking a moment to really read and accept who she was. Before she tries to do the next thing or achieve the next goal, she needs to be content and happy with her life as it is. I don’t think [being captain] is something that she isn’t going to want again in the future, but she’s not competitive with Andy over it. She’s not trying to be captain right now. She’s happy that her best friend is a captain. It’s something that they dreamed of when they were in the academy together.
How much is her relationship with Carina responsible for Maya’s newfound peace?
It’s the fact that Maya has found what love is. I don’t think Maya ever knew what love was. There was nothing ever holding her back from the person she was, this ambitious, hold-nothing-back, drive-herself-in-the-ground type of person. She didn’t know what love was, and that is what initially led to her spiral. She was trying so much to be this person for someone she loves, but at the same time, trying to be her own version of herself, which was unhealthy, as we all know. Carina and the relationship between them is what brought Maya to where she is today. It’s what we’re fighting for. It’s what she’s always wanted, but didn’t know she wanted it because she had never experienced that in her family growing up. If it hadn’t worked out with Carina and their relationship had ended, I don’t know how Maya would have changed or grown as a person.
