Grey's Anatomy boss on how the new interns will help in Ellen Pompeo's absence
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Grey's Anatomy is about to do something the show hasn't done since Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), Izzie (Katherine Heigl), Cristina (Sandra Oh), and George (T.R. Knight) first followed Bailey (Chandra Wilson) through the halls of Seattle Grace: It's bringing in a new class of interns, all as series regulars. (Yes, the show's brought in new interns before, but not with them all serving as series regulars.)
The new additions — played by Niko Terho, Adelaide Kane, Midori Francis, Harry Shum Jr., and Alexis Floyd — will help move the show forward as star Ellen Pompeo takes a step back. Pompeo will only appear in eight episodes of the show's upcoming 19th season.
EW spoke with showrunner Krista Vernoff about how the new interns will spice things up.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What made you all want to bring in a new intern class in such a major way?
KRISTA VERNOFF: We haven't brought in a cast of five series regular interns since the beginning, so this is a big deal and it feels really exciting and it's breathing a lot of new life into the show. It's allowing us to get back to the early model of teaching and learning. To have five series regulars with the talent and chops and resumes that this group brings allows for storytelling focused on what it is to be a brand new surgeon again and how everything feels life and death and every mistake that you make could kill someone. And it just felt like the right moment. Ellen [Pompeo] is having less of a role in the show this year, and this felt like the right moment to come at it fresh with a bunch [of new characters].
ABC/Nino Muñoz Niko Terho, Midori Francis, Adelaide Kane, Alexis Floyd, and Harry Shum Jr. on 'Grey's Anatomy'
What can you tell me about the personalities of these interns?
Well, we worked hard to not make them copies of the originals. They're very much their own event. Here's what I can tell you. Here's the really big difference between the season 1 class and the season 19 class: In season 1, Grey Sloan was one of the top-rated hospitals with top-rated surgical interns from all around the country. And at the end of season 18, Grey Sloan had to shut down its residency program because various things had fallen apart and the surgical program needed to be rebooted. So what has happened here is that they've reopened surgical program on the heels of having been shut down, and that changes who's applying to the program. But add to that, they've opened it six months after it shut down, which puts them in the middle of a year, which is not matching time. So this class is all diamonds in the rough. These are people who didn't match or who maybe got kicked out of a first residency who have something in their history that caused their grades to drop. But they've combed through the hundreds of resumes and they've found really excellent candidates who had life experiences that led to them not being in the top tier matches. They are all coming from something that they had to overcome in order to be here.
Who's their resident?
It's Schmitt. How we get him there is very funny and he's terrific. And he's not just the chief resident, he's the only senior resident. Because the program had to reboot, so all the senior residents got assigned to new residencies and Levi Schmitt also got assigned to a new residency, but he was not enjoying that residency and made his way back. And that story is in the premiere and it's very funny.
Liliane Lathan/ABC Adelaide Kane, Alexis Floyd, Harry Shum Jr., Midori Francis and Niko Terho on 'Grey's Anatomy'
I sometimes still think of Schmitt as an intern, so to see him guide new interns is kind of crazy to think about.
And it's really fun to see. We've definitely had new intern classes come in. The class that Levi came in was in season 14 and we had Jeanine Mason in that class. But this is the first time that we've had five series regular interns.
You mentioned Ellen's limited involvement this year. I feel like it's been a question posed for years: Could Grey's continue without Ellen? Having her be a little less involved this season, have you been surprised by how easy or difficult it is without her?
I haven't crossed that bridge yet because I've got Meredith for the first eight episodes, and then I'll have less of Meredith. So one of the goals here is to platform this new class of residents in a way that everyone falls in love with them. And if Meredith isn't here anymore all the time, everybody still wants to come. I think Ellen is extraordinary and this show has always been an ensemble show. We have so many characters that are so beloved and have been on the show for so long that people would stay for. I just felt like it was important to also bring in fresh young students for those people to teach. Those people are all teachers now. I needed students.
Grey's Anatomy returns Thursday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
Make sure to check out EW's Fall TV Preview cover story — as well as all of our 2022 Fall TV Preview content, releasing over 22 days through Sept. 29.
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