Ranking the New 'Grey's Anatomy' Interns From Worst to Best
Grey's Anatomy started its run in 2005 with five interns (Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Alex Karve, Izzie Stevens and George O'Malley), and it was no accident that it kicked off its 19th season with five interns as well. According to showrunner Krista Vernoff, the storytelling tactic has served as a reset of sorts.
"It's allowing us to get back to the early model of teaching and learning," she told Entertainment Weekly in 2022. "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]."
The characters are part of the hospital's new residency program, which was designed to give opportunities to "diamonds in the rough," or doctors who didn't match or were fired elsewhere.
As we head into the Season 19 finale on May 18, let's take a closer look at Grey's Anatomy's newest interns and rank them from least to most interesting.
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Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane)
Jules Millin (played by Adelaide Kane) fit right in at Grey Sloan Memorial when she met attending Atticus Lincoln (or Link, the father of Amelia's baby) on a dating app and jumped into bed with him on the Saturday before she started her new job. (How very Meredith Grey circa Season 1 of her.)
She's since moved on from sleeping with Link to exchanging smoldering glances with Benson "Blue" Kwan, which makes for some fun scenes. But overall, Jules hasn't proved to be a particularly compelling character just yet. She gets bonus points for her love of astrology, though.
Benson "Blue" Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.)
ABC/Liliane Lathan
Benson "Blue" Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) has remained an enigma for most of Season 19, making him somewhat reminiscent of Dr. Alex Karev. His gruff-yet-soft persona hasn't been enough to propel him to the front of the intern pack, but he's getting closer.
After the character revealed that the death of his mom left him in extreme medical debt, it became clear that there's a lot more to him than meets the eye. It also seems that Blue is older than the rest of the group, which could allow for interesting storyline opportunities.
Ahead of his debut on the show, Shum Jr. broke down his character for Shondaland. "Blue just wants to win at everything [and] be No. 1—that’s his whole life," he said. "That’s what he’s kind of focused on. So, there’s not much room to actually apply anything else. Social skills are not really there. And relationships—you know, it’s a struggle for him."
Simone Griffith (Alexis Floyd)
Simone Griffith (Alexis Floyd) has been painted as the next Meredith Grey (it helped that Meredith took her under her wing early in Season 19), but she sometimes gives off Lexi vibes more than anything—she's just so nice!
That said, Simone has provided plenty of drama this season, namely in the romance department. After breaking up with her fiancé, Trey Delgado, she moved back to Seattle to join the new residency program at Grey Sloan Memorial, where she developed a crush on fellow intern Lucas Adams. Only her fiancé came back and proposed to her again, and she accepted. Whether she and Trey make it to the altar and say "I do" remains to be seen.
See? Drama. We thank Simone for her service.
Lucas Adams (Niko Terho)
ABC/Raymond Liu
There's been interest in Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) from the jump because of his connection to Dr. Derek Shepherd. As fans recall, in episode one of Season 19, Lucas scrubbed into surgery and commented, "It's a beautiful day to save lives"—the same line that Dr. Shepherd famously said time and time again.
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Both Amelia and Meredith were on hand to watch the surgery, which helped viewers figure out his connection to the late, great McDreamy, as Amelia told Meredith, "Derek was a god to him. And, Lucas was Derek's favorite nephew." (Insert shocked—and pleased—gasps around the world.) Ultimately, we learn that Meredith hired Lucas in part because he reminds her of Amelia, not Derek, and since then fans haven't stopped trying to figure out which Shepherd sister is Lucas' mom.
Terho told Shondaland that Lucas Adams' famous family definitely causes him some strife. "[Lucas is] often overlooked and underestimated," he said. "He feels like he constantly needs to prove himself. He’s a bit of a black sheep in his family because everybody else is super-successful, so that’s some added pressure onto him."
Mika Yasuda (Midori Francis)
ABC/Raymond Liu
Of all the new interns, Mika Yasuda is he most interesting simply because she has so much going on in her backstory. Because of her school debt, we've seen Mika—a middle child of eight—eating trash just to have a meal and donating plasma to make money. She now lives in Meredith's house—with Simone and Lucas—but before that, she was sleeping in a van, where she'd installed a wifi hotspot and a camper stove.
In many ways, she's the clearest amalgam of the five original Grey's Anatomy residents—Meredith, Alex, Izzie, Cristina and George—and that's what makes her so darn appealing.
