Ben Warren is back in the house … er, hospital. Following the emotional series finale of Station 19, Jason George is returning full-time to the series that started it all: Grey’s Anatomy. As reported by Deadline, the actor has inked a deal to return as a series regular for Season 21 this fall.
George has spent the last seven seasons as a series regular for the firefighter-centric Grey’s spinoff, but before leaving the show’s full-time roster to anchor Station 19, he was a series regular for Season 12 through 14. He also continued to visit the mainstay series as a guest star, since his character is still married to OG Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson).
Deadline also reports that the status of fellow Grey’s-to-Station 19 transplant Stefania Spampinato is still unclear at this time.
PREVIOUSLY (5/16/24 at 9:30 a.m. ET): Now that we know that ABC’s Station 19 is ending with Season 7 — barring any sort of 11th-hour save — it’s time to prepare our goodbyes to Seattle’s finest firefighters. Well, most of them anyway. We have a feeling that we’ll be seeing Jason George’s Ben Warren again as Station 19 predecessor Grey’s Anatomy continues into Season 21 this fall.
Ben is, after all, married to Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), one of two original Grey’s Anatomy characters still appearing on the ABC medical drama full-time. Wilson has already challenged herself to stay on Grey’s until “the very last episode, the very last day, the very last scene,” and Bailey and Ben’s relationship will surely stand the test of time.
So we can count on Ben and Bailey sharing screen time on Grey’s Anatomy at least periodically in Season 21 and beyond. But might Jason George become a full-time Grey’s star again, as he was between Seasons 12 and 14?
Thus far, George doesn’t seem to be letting on. And Grey’s showrunner Meg Marinis isn’t saying which Station 19 stars will cross over once the firefighter drama is done. “I don’t want to answer that because I don’t want to answer anything about Station 19 that I’m not only fully aware of,” Marinis told Deadline in March. “How they end their stories will help me determine whether or not I will be seeing those characters on Grey’s.”
Ben’s relationship with Bailey makes him one of the likeliest Station 19 characters to join the Grey’s cast, but there’s another biographical detail that works in his favor: As Station 19 viewers have been told (and told again), Ben started his career as a doctor. He was an attending anesthesiologist at Seattle’s Mercy West Medical Center before that hospital merged with Seattle Grace Hospital to become Seattle Grace Mercy West. And then he had a change of heart and started a surgical career, first in Los Angeles and then back in Seattle at the hospital now known as Grey Sloan Memorial.
Craig Sjodin/ABC
Plus, Ben also has a rapport with the former Grey Sloan colleagues of his who are still scrubbing in at the hospital, including Drs. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), and Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington).
Ben is also getting older, and the firefighting might be losing its spark, so to speak. It’s a rigorous job, and for Warren, it’s already taking a physical toll. Ben has been suffering from back pain in Season 7, and a job at Grey Sloan — even one involving hours in an operating room — might be what the proverbial doctor ordered.
Then again, it’s not a lock that Ben will drop the firehose and pick up the forceps. For starters, he has had so many career changes already. This is a guy who went from anesthesiologist to surgical intern to surgical resident, back to anesthesiologist, back to surgical resident, to firefighter. Is he really going to change careers yet again? (One line of his in Station 19 Season 7 might provide a hint: “I can’t even tell you how much stress I’ve caused Miranda over the years, but I can tell you that every time I’ve switched careers, I’ve gotten sharper — happier, even.”)
Plus, the Grey’s Anatomy cast is already quite large in its 20th season, with 15 series regulars on the payroll. That’s not as large as the Season 19 cast, granted, but with the cast getting older and paychecks undoubtedly increasing, we wouldn’t count on Grey’s having the budget to afford bringing George back full-time (unless the “explosive” season finale kills off some surgeons). The size of the series-regular cast on Grey’s might also explain why alums like Sarah Drew (Dr. April Kepner), Kate Walsh (Dr. Addison Montgomery), and Jessica Capshaw (Dr. Arizona Robbins) have only come back in guest-starring roles.
