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Kate Walsh says slipping back into her scrubs on Grey’s Anatomy always feels natural.
While stepping out to the opening night of Shakespeare in the Park’s The Winter’s Tale in New York City on Tuesday, Aug. 11, the actress spoke to PEOPLE about returning to the long-running medical drama earlier this year. Walsh, 58, reprised her role as neonatal surgeon Dr. Addison Montgomery in the season 22 episode titled “Strip That Down,” which aired on Jan. 29.
In the episode, Addison pulls her former sister-in-law, Amelia (Caterina Scorsone), out of her sabbatical to assist with a consult on a pregnant woman. She also confesses to Amelia that she’s having marriage difficulties.
Walsh’s latest return to the ABC series followed previous guest arcs in seasons 18 and 19.
Asked how it felt to be back in the mix at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, Walsh told PEOPLE, “It’s like [I] slip back in like a little fish in the stream.”
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She also shared what it’s like to be part of such a beloved TV series.
“Oh, my gosh, it’s so iconic. I mean, there are no words,” she said. “I’m just so thrilled for everyone who’s on the show and all the writers and [showrunner] Meg Marinas. That it’s going on and that the fans love it so much. It’s really exciting.”
Walsh first appeared as Addison in the show’s season 1 finale and left the series as a main character in season 3. She went on to star in the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff series, Private Practice, for six seasons from 2007 to 2013.
After her appearance in season 19, Walsh discussed her return as fan-favorite Addison during a visit to The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“It’s incredible to be back,” she said at the time. “But the younger set of actors who are the new set of interns, they grew up watching the show. You’re like, ‘Oh, hi!’ ”
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“It’s funny to be the elder statesman of the show,” she continued, adding of the cast, “They’re so beautiful — all of them are such great actors.”
Walsh recently weighed in on the spirited, fan-led debate between Patrick Dempsey and the late Eric Dane’s characters: Is she team McDreamy (Dempsey’s Dr. Derek Shepherd) or McSteamy (Dane’s Dr. Mark Sloan)?
“I couldn’t decide,” Walsh admitted in an interview with Woman’s World published on July 24. “It was all so fiction, but it was a great time.”
Walsh’s character was introduced after Derek and Dr. Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo) became romantically involved. She made a memorable entrance in the show’s inaugural season when she called out Meredith for “screwing” her husband, Derek. Her character was also romantically involved with Mark, adding more drama to the mix.
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While speaking with PEOPLE at the Shakespeare in the Park event, Walsh remembered her late costar Dane — who died on Feb. 19 at age 53, nearly one year after announcing his ALS diagnosis — as “just a great guy” and “a great father.”
“His legacy will live on in his work,” she added.
All 22 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy are available to stream on Netflix and Hulu. Season 23 — which is scheduled to return in October 2026 — will air new episodes on ABC, with Hulu streaming them the following day.
20 Years Later, 'Grey's Anatomy' Needs To Stop Expanding
Once upon a time, the newest addition to the Grey's Anatomy roster felt like a special occasion, and there were various reasons for this, particularly the fact that someone could potentially die in increasingly ridiculous ways. But one of the biggest reasons was how well the show conveyed who the main characters were as individuals compared to virtually all other shows on network television.
Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), and George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) built a strong connection with audiences throughout the first several seasons of the show. While all the medical calamities were very entertaining, they were ultimately worth watching only because they affected the lives of the central characters. As a result, when looking forward to ABC's Grey's Anatomy spin-off, it doesn't feel as exciting as it probably should.
The untitled series, co-created by Shonda Rhimes and current Grey’s showrunner Meg Marinis, will move the franchise to rural West Texas for the first time. Instead of centering on an established Grey’s character like Private Practice did with Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) or Station 19 did with Ben Warren (Jason George), this series will reportedly focus on an entirely new group of doctors.
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Already Feels Like a Different Show Than the One Fans Fell in Love With
Katherine Heigl, TR Knight, and Sandra Oh in an episode of Grey's Anatomy
Grey’s Anatomy has survived longer than almost anyone expected. It can be quite hard for a network drama to last upwards of 20 seasons, especially when it’s based on a rotating cast. Nonetheless, the amount of time a show has been on air and its continuing imaginative flow differ vastly. The original magic of the show stemmed from the comedic representation of dysfunctional, yet loving relationships and genuine emotional stories. Longtime fans of the show think that, as a whole, it has changed since it first began airing. The medical cases mattered more, but they also played a part in these characters' lives. The show struck a balance between that and never losing sight of the interns trying to survive impossible hours while ruining each other’s lives in on-call rooms.
Nowadays, it just seems like Grey's is trying to redo all of that. The show still knows how to manufacture cliffhangers, complete with explosions, hostage situations, near-death experiences, and surprise pregnancies, but there’s a growing sense that the series is repeating emotional beats instead of building toward anything meaningful. That’s part of why so many fans point to earlier seasons as the show’s natural endpoint. Some argue that Season 10 would have been the right place to stop after Cristina’s departure, while others think the COVID-focused Season 17 could have worked as a surprisingly poignant conclusion. There are even viewers who believe Season 14’s wedding-centered finale, “All of Me,” gave several core characters the closest thing the series has ever had to a satisfying ending. Instead, Grey’s kept going. And now, years after Pompeo stepped back from being the show’s full-time lead, ABC is preparing to expand the universe even further.
‘Private Practice’ Worked Because It Had a Reason To Exist
The cast of Private Practice in a promotional image.
Private Practice made sense because Addison was one of the franchise’s most beloved characters. The show also had a clear identity separate from Grey’s Anatomy. It traded Seattle’s chaotic surgical energy for a more intimate, slower-paced character drama in Los Angeles. Whether viewers loved it or not, it justified its existence almost immediately. On the other hand, Station 19 had a harder time carving out its own personality, but at least it still felt connected to the larger Grey’s world through familiar characters and frequent crossovers.
This new series doesn’t have either of those components just yet — news did just break, but where will the connections come from? Right now, the pitch mostly sounds like “Grey’s, but make it Texas.” That may change once casting details and storylines emerge, but it was the first impression fans got. A franchise can only expand so many times before audiences start noticing the machinery behind it.
ABC is turning nearly all of its biggest scripted dramas into franchises. 9-1-1 now has Nashville, The Rookie is getting The Rookie: North. One of the only ones missing is Grey's. Network television has become obsessed with expandable universes because recognizable IP is safer than launching something original from scratch. Viewers and advertisers know the name, and the network already knows there’s a built-in audience, but television history is full of franchises that kept growing long after the creative spark faded.
The Bigger Problem Is What the Spinoff Says About ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Dylan Young (Kyle Chandler) carefully guiding Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) through removing a bomb in Grey's Anatomy.
What makes the timing of this announcement especially strange is that Grey’s Anatomy itself is reportedly receiving reduced episode orders for budget reasons, so while the flagship series gets smaller, the franchise keeps getting bigger. ABC clearly still sees enormous value in Grey’s Anatomy as a brand. The ratings remain solid, and the streaming numbers are strong because viewers have been tuning in to the show for numerous reasons over the course of 20 years, including as a habit, out of loyalty or nostalgia, or through an emotional connection with the show's veteran characters.
However, a show can continue to survive, sometimes for a very long time, but not necessarily have a chance to evolve. The medical drama genre has taken on a whole new approach since Grey's Anatomy began airing in 2005. The success of HBO Max's The Pitt, among others, relies heavily on the relatable realism and the emotional exhaustion that many viewers experience after watching Grey's, as well as Grey's original "glossy" style appearing more and more like an extreme version of reality TV, while maintaining some of its original elements (which was a huge part of the show's original appeal).
Yet it is hard to ignore that we, as viewers, currently see Grey's generating momentum towards a franchise rather than creative urgency. This does not indicate that the new spin-off will undoubtedly be a failure; after 20 years, Grey's has proven its critics wrong. Texas could bring a refreshing change of pace to the series. Perhaps a new group of doctors will strike a similar chord with viewers, just as they once did with Meredith and Cristina or George and Izzie.
It would just be nice if Grey's Anatomy just ended as we know it and aired reruns of Seasons 1-10. So many people would be here for that.
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