Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital is about to be injected with new life as another class of interns is ushered in. But this class has much more on their shoulders than previous groups, as they’re entering the hospital after years of scandal that cost Grey Sloan its previously elite reputation.
While there’s a sense of optimism among the staff about the potential that could come from these “diamonds in the rough,” there’s one person who appears to be approaching the new phase in Grey Sloan’s teaching program with a healthy dose of skepticism. After handing over Chief of Surgery to Meredith Grey last season, it was unclear if Miranda Bailey would be back.
But, as Chandra Wilson, who has played the character for 19 seasons, put it, “Bailey can’t go anywhere for too long. She’s too nosy.”
“She is actually kind of going through that same transition that most folks in the world are going through right now, where your priorities change as a result of everything that we’ve been through in the last three years, at this point,” Wilson told TheWrap.
While she was certainly exhausted from the many mishaps at Grey Sloan, her official reason for resigning was to spend time with her family after adopting the daughter of her husband’s deceased coworker.
“She’s got Pru now, and everybody who has ever watched the show and knows anything about Miranda Bailey knows that she’s always wanted a little girl,” Wilson said. “She’s making sure to enjoy this moment in time because she actually achieved every single professional goal that she had set out to achieve from the time we met her in the pilot episode of ‘Grey’s.’”
Over the years, Wilson — and viewers — have gotten to know Miranda as a deeply caring individual who has put every ounce of herself into her work. But, she’s certainly no longer the wide-eyed, tough as nails chief resident we met in the pilot.
Wilson teases that audiences will get to see a different side of Miranda in this upcoming season, as she redefines her role within and outside of the hospital.
“We have seen a person who had goals from Day 1; we got to see her achieve those goals in real time. And we also got to see the difference between who she thinks she is and who the audience knows she is,” Wilson explained. “So I think in Bailey’s mind, she’s still the person that you met in the pilot for the most part, but as an audience member, you know better now, right? That’s been really exciting as an actor to get to grow somebody not according to my wishes, but according to what I’ve been given on the page.”
“Grey’s Anatomy” airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
