Kali Rocha's Sydney Heron returns to “Grey's Anatomy” in first-look photos
“You should expect some funny interactions between Sydney and some of our newer characters who've never met her,” showrunner Meg Marinis says.
Paging … anyone?
When Grey’s Anatomy ended its 20th season, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) had resigned, a decision that was followed by Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) firing Teddy (Kim Raver), Owen (Kevin McKidd), and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone). And let’s just say there’s more to that story when season 21 picks up just moments later. “I’m really excited for fans to see how we get out of the end of last season,” Grey’s showrunner Meg Marinis tells Entertainment Weekly. “I feel like some fans think maybe Meredith just walked away completely from this war that she and Catherine are in, and that's going to be picked up and we'll see a shift in it in quite a different way. I think fans will be excited about that dynamic between the two. Catherine is a really fun villain to love, and Debbie Allen is mesmerizing to watch, but she is a quite scary character, so when you have these two powerful women in battle professionally, that's another thing that we continue to explore.”
Related: Grey's Anatomy finale recap: Catherine fires half the staff
Fans will remember that in the final moments of season 20, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) had put her own job on the line in order to protect the interns, essentially giving Catherine an ultimatum: Either she fires Bailey along with the interns or she leaves them be. The good news is that we won’t have to wait long for answers. “Several of the threads do get answered in that first episode,” Marinis says. “But not everyone’s going to get all their answers quickly.”
One question, and perhaps the obvious one, is: What is Catherine going to do about her lack of attendings? The answer involves none other than Dr. Sydney Heron (Kali Rocha), who last appeared in season 4 of the long-running medical drama. “Clearly we have some fired attendings,” Marinis says. “When we last saw Sydney, she was in light blue scrubs as a resident with Bailey. Now she’s an attending, but she’s still the character that delighted fans in those early days.”
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Sydney Heron first appeared on the Grey’s scene in season 2 when she stepped in while Bailey went on maternity leave and immediately butted heads with Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), who was not a fan of Sydney’s “healing with love” philosophy. Nearly 20 years after we first met her, that philosophy hasn’t changed. (Thankfully — or not — Cristina isn’t around to see it.)
“You should expect some funny interactions between Sydney and some of our newer characters who've never met her,” Marinis says. “Her ‘healing with love’ philosophy and her kind of quirky nature is a little different for some.”
The idea to bring Sydney back, it seems, has been a thought in the writers’ room for a while now. “What is so fun about having a season 21 show is that you have this deep, deep well that you can go to,” Marinis says. “The pitch to bring Sydney back has happened a couple of times over the past few years, and nothing ever seemed completely right. And then the pitch to bring her back for this year and this particular story was so perfect.”
And so far, she hasn’t disappointed. “The second that she delivered a line at the table read, it was instant roaring laughter," Marinis says. "It's like nobody had missed a beat from 18 years of her being gone.”
Grey’s Anatomy returns Thursday, Sept. 26, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.