Sarah Drew, who played Dr. April Kepner for nine years, until 2018, shared that she was initially supposed to have a one-time romantic encounter with another character during season seven.
Sarah Drew is remembering how she felt when she had to leave Grey’s Anatomy after being on the show for nine years.
She played Dr. April Kepner and was written off the show after season 14 in 2018, along with Jessica Capshaw, who played Dr. Arizona Robbins.
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Even though she left the show, something extraordinary happened soon after—Grey’s Anatomy’s short series B-Team, which Sarah directed, got nominated for an Emmy award.
We were unceremoniously let go in a way that felt mean and unjust, and, because of that, the outpouring of love was so enormous it was like you were sitting there watching people [eulogize you].
rew said on a recent episode of the Call It What It Is podcast, co-hosted by Capshaw and Camilla Luddington.
In an earlier interview with Vulture, Sarah Drew compared the feeling of celebrating her Emmy nomination after leaving the show to “attending [my] own funeral.”
Even though her “confidence had gotten a bit shaken in the wake of being let go,” she shared with The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 that she eventually saw the nomination as a “profound affirmation” of her abilities.
The nomination after the fact made me go, ‘I don’t need to be worried about anything or have my confidence shaken. I’m not only pursuing my career as an actor but I’m now also walking into this world as a director and as a producer and the world is so wide open. More than anything else, the last few weeks after my final episodes have been a really beautiful rebirth and a really exciting time.
the actress said
When Sarah Drew left Grey’s Anatomy, it was a big surprise, not just for her but also for the fans of the show.
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She had shared with The Hollywood Reporter that she was let go for a specific reason.
The show had too many characters and that they needed to downsize because they couldn’t service all of the characters effectively. They didn’t want any of us to be left in the background and not getting much of a story.
The actress, who also starred in Cagney and Lacey, came back to Grey’s Anatomy in seasons 17 and 18. On the Call It What It Is podcast, she shared that returning to the show felt “freeing” for her.
I have no attachment to [the show] at all. I had zero anxiety [going back because] I don’t need anything from anyone on that set anymore. They’re not responsible for my livelihood anymore. They’re not responsible for my success or my joy… I’m like, ‘Hey! This is a fun spot to come visit.
Drew explained
In the same podcast, Sarah Drew shared that her character was originally meant to have a one-night romance with Mark Sloan, played by Eric Dane, in season seven.
Before they made my character love Jesus and a virgin, there’s a scene where Sloan and Reed [Nora Zehetner] have sex, a random one-night stand. That was supposed to be me originally. It was supposed to be April. April was supposed to have some random one-off with Sloan and it was in the original production draft [of the script], and then they changed it. I didn’t have anything to do with it, but then they changed their mind.
she recalled
Source: Hollywood Reporter