ET spoke with the actor ahead of Thursday's two-hour crossover event and the aftermath of Bailey's miscarriage.
The Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 worlds are colliding in the most dramatic way ever.
The Grey's fall finale culminated with a shocking cliffhanger when a car plowed straight through the windows at the popular Seattle hangout, Joe's Bar, leaving several Grey's and Station 19 characters in extreme danger. An ominous teaser showed the devastating aftermath of the crash, as the Grey Sloan doctors and Station 19 firefighters race against the clock to save their friends -- Jackson, Richard, Ben, Captain Pruitt, Levi, Nico and the rest of the interns -- from seeing a tragic fate in Thursday's two-hour crossover event that kicks off Station 19's third season and resumes season 16 of Grey's.
"You should be worried," Station 19 star Jason George told ET recently at ABC's all-star party at the winter Television Critics Association press tour, sharing that his character, anesthesiologist-turned-firefighter Ben Warren, makes it out of the accident unscathed. "I'll just say that not only in this first episode, but in general, you're reminded of the fact that fearless storytelling leads to... people die, even if you love them. But it makes the most interesting and most powerful stories, and that's what is happening."
ET recently caught up with the actor, where he previewed the upcoming crossover event, the heartbreaking aftermath following Bailey's miscarriage and more.
ET: Station 19 is finally back! It feels like we've been waiting forever.
Jason George: You think it feels long for you? (Laughs.) We've been shooting this show, and the fact that I can't talk about anything and we're so hyped up about what's going on right now on the show... it's fantastic because now that it's all coming out of the head of one woman, [executive producer Krista Vernoff] running both shows, people get a crossover and more romances within the shows. Everybody watching Grey's knows that there is already another romance besides Ben and Bailey on Station 19 [with Jackson and Vic]. So I'm just hyped. The danger's gotten greater and so I'm excited for everybody to finally see it.
With Krista overseeing both Grey's Anatomy and Station 19, what shifts in storytelling have you noticed? How much more interwoven are the worlds now?
All the way down to the move to putting us at 8 p.m. so that you can really go from pulling somebody out of the fire, pulling them out of the car crash and trying to save their life right there on the spot. Trying to get him into the hospital and then dropping them off at Grey Sloan's door and the story continues. You get to see the doctors try and diagnose what the problem is and they all work together whether they save the life or they die. It's kind of awesome. The ability to have one big universe is really beautiful.
Now in the Grey's fall finale, there is a big cliffhanger with the big accident at Joe's Bar and Ben is at the center of it.
Yeah, yeah. They put a car through a wall. A car comes crashing through the wall, because that only happens in Grey's Anatomy.
Exactly.
It's a quintessential Grey's Anatomy moment. What I love about it too is that -- and it's why I fell in love with the show -- they'll do these crazy, incredible, out of control things, but has some human pathos on the other side of it that you hadn't [expected]. Ben and Bailey are literally in the middle of dealing with a miscarriage. Ben is in [at Joe's Bar] trying to figure out what to do. Bailey needs time and so he walked away from her five, 10 minutes ago and got a beer. He's feeling how he feels, but he wants to be there to take care of his wife. But she needs time alone. And then the car crashes through the wall. Everything that happens in this premiere episode, Ben's got to put what's going on personally aside, which is gold for an actor to have to play. You're like, get me something to push against. Give me something to play with.
A miscarriage is a devastating thing for a couple to go through, and Ben and Bailey are facing a crushing loss at the worst time.
Trust me, I know. I've been there. I love that Krista has this great idea to talk about things happening in the world, to really talk about them because one out of four couples have a miscarriage. Nobody talks about it. I remember being at a party one time and a friend -- they were probably going to adopt at one point and they said, "Yeah, we've tried this. We tried that. We had a miscarriage...," and suddenly, another half dozen people in there were like, "Oh, we've had a [miscarriage too]." Nobody ever talks about it, but when they do, suddenly it's an instant thing where you realize you're not alone. And this is one of those moments where the show can say to people, you're not alone. Even your friends on TV are going through it.
How do you think Ben and Bailey work through this?
It's difficult because this is one of those things where... They were crazy excited because the other part of it is, Ben has no biological children. He loves Tuck as if he is his own child, but he didn't give birth to him. So as much as he's been a part of raising Tuck, he didn't get into the mix until Tuck was older, you know? So Ben was truly, truly excited about that. All these things like, I wanted to be a dad before I knew I wanted to be an actor, so there are things I could tap into with Ben that were so much fun. I'm trying to remember if I actually talked to Krista about that because they've mined every actor on the show for personal stuff to put in. I almost joke that it's almost cheating 'cause they're finding phenomenal stuff that they know you can tap into because you have a connection to it. The miscarriage storyline wasn't one of them because I didn't bring that up, but when they did, I was like, "Funny you should mention it..." because they put very personal things of mine into the storyline that helps connect Jason's adrenaline junkie to Ben's adrenaline junkie. You'll see that in some of the episodes coming up.
Is a child still something that they want down the line or is this experience too traumatizing for them to revisit this conversation?
It's traumatizing. But I also think that when you work through it, you begin to realize either part of your brain thought that door was closed and you find out that it's not necessarily. Then you start thinking again and you start realizing there are always possibilities. It may not be the way you planned it, but there are possibilities.
How worried should we be about who makes it out of the accident alive?
You should be worried. I'll just say that not only in this first episode, but in general, you're reminded of the fact that fearless storytelling leads to... people die, even if you love them. But it makes the most interesting and most powerful stories, and that's what is happening.
Station 19 kicks off season three on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT with Grey's Anatomy following at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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