ABC/Richard Cartwright
- Jesse Williams' exit from "Grey's Anatomy" saddened fans but also set up the perfect spin-off.
- A show centered on Jackson, April, and their work in marginalized communities is vitally needed.
- ABC hasn't announced any plans for a spin-off – just an 18th season for "Grey's" – but they should.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Longtime "Grey's Anatomy" viewers will recall the heartbreaking moment Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and April Kepner (Sarah Drew) lost their son Samuel Avery in the season 11 episode "All I Could Do Was Cry."
On the night that episode aired in 2015, I called a friend sobbing.
"April has nothing and I have nothing and what am I gonna do?" I asked, crying real tears over my keyboard.
In my defense, I had drank a lot of wine to prepare for the episode, but I was not precisely just absorbing a fictional character's pain. I was one journalism project away from my Master's degree and advisers kept quitting on me or rejecting my proposals. Some of my pain was real.
My friend understood that fictional characters can be very real kindred spirits and told me, "You are going to finish your degree. And April has Jackson."
But I wasn't so sure about that last part: "You know how TV works - the writers are going to break them up!"
Turns out, we were both right.
I did finish my Master's degree, with a final project examining authentic representation of disability on TV. And following the loss of their child in that season 11 episode, "Grey's Anatomy" did choose to use Drew and Williams' natural chemistry against them for most of Drew's subsequent three seasons on the show. Instead of thriving together, Jackson and April flailed apart until Drew's nonsensical exit two years later at the end of season 14.
But the couple's recent on-screen reunion reminded viewers just how magnetic the two are, and how they're the perfect candidates to anchor a spin-off focusing on more marginalized and diverse stories - if only ABC were ready to let "Grey's Anatomy" go and make space for a show like that happen.
Jesse Williams' departure from 'Grey's Anatomy' brought the opportunity for Jackson and April to finally reunite onscreen
ABC/Richard Cartwright
Williams' recent exit finally gave "Grey's Anatomy" the chance to bring April back and right its wrongs in its handling of that relationship, and the show certainly takes its best shot to do so.
April's second marriage is essentially annulled in the May 6 episode "Look Up Child," which shows the exes reuniting onscreen for the first time since Drew's exit in 2018. But since Jackson doesn't know about April's separation until the end of that episode, there is a limit to the amount of reconciliation that can happen (no kiss, much to the chagrin of Japril fans everywhere).
But the path to a future reconciliation is clear, at least: April is moving to Boston with Jackson and their daughter Harriet to help her ex realize his dream of running his family's foundation and creating measurable change for marginalized communities within medicine. So, there is hope for them in all aspects of their lives.
It's the perfect ending for both Jackson and the actor who's played him for over a decade.
Off-screen, Williams has built his career around activism work as much as acting. But the more I think about it, the more the end of Jackson's story hurts.
It's understandable that Williams wants to move on from "Grey's Anatomy," where his character has been thrown from one inconsequential relationship to the next since April was written off.
But, here's the thing: Why is "Grey's Anatomy" continuing on?
After nearly two decades, the 'Grey's Anatomy' slot in ABC's line-up could better be used to feature new, underrepresented stories
ABC/Richard Cartwright
Why are we gearing up for the 18th season of a show centered around a privileged white woman when the writers have informed us that Jackson and April are leaving to work for oppressed people, who need better medical care in real life - and who also need to see their stories represented on TV?
By "represented," I don't mean given five minutes of screen-time in between scenes of doctors hooking up in supply closets. We need our stories to be the focus of multi-episode and multi-season arcs; we need more marginalized actors to be recurring guest stars and series regulars.
Jackson's mission as the head of the Fox Foundation in Boston presents Disney, ABC, Hulu, or any network with an opportunity to develop a Japril-centered spin-off show that is more than just entertaining - such a show is desperately needed.
And Drew wholeheartedly agrees.
"This is the moment when Jackson realizes 'I have this incredible opportunity to make real change in the world,'" she said in a May 7 Instagram Live with Williams, after "Look Up Child" aired, discussing a hypothetical spin-off. "Both of their hearts are pulling towards serving the community and changing it for the better and here [Jackson is] head of the foundation with resources to be able to actually do these things. How amazing to really kind of dive into medical justice?"
"Grey's Anatomy" even unintentionally gave this hypothetical spin-off the perfect name in one of Jackson and April's last scenes together in "Look Up Child."
Jackson is leaving April's house after she's told him she is single and will go to Boston with him. "Fingers crossed for new horizons," she says, which Jackson echoes.
'Look Up Child,' the much-anticipated episode featuring Drew's return, set up an easy (and logical) spin-off
ABC/Richard Cartwright
The "New Horizons" show in my head features a diverse cast of doctors and social-justice leaders, working with Jackson and April to address the most pressing issues facing marginalized communities.
The maternal mortality rate for Black women, gender reassignment surgery costs within the transgender community, and access to specialized care for disabled adults are just three examples of topics that such a show could - and should - bring to our screens.
There would be personal drama, too, of course. Romances and friendships between new characters would flourish, and Jackson and April would obviously have to find a path back to each other, plan a real wedding, and potentially have another child if they want one. But instead of will-they-won't-they, stale love triangles, and baits-and-switches, the "New Horizons" core would be made of the real issues that matter every week.
The show could also touch upon other impactful storylines, like the reality of being in an interracial relationship and what it's like to experience child loss. Jackson and April have never really had nuanced discussions about race on "Grey's Anatomy," nor have we seen them grieve their son together in many years.
Drew and Williams have done their best with the material they've been given in the past. But as leads, executive producers, and/or directors of their own show, I have no doubt they would help elevate storytelling standards on TV.
I often think about the night their son Samuel Avery died and I drank a bottle of wine about it.
The truth is, that storyline has impacted many viewers' lives and made many grieving parents feel seen. It isn't exactly used as a device to break up Jackson and April's marriage, but as a disabled woman who has done academic work about how disability is represented on the small screen, I maintain that Samuel should have lived.
Drew and Williams are such dedicated acting partners, especially when the material matters. They would have handled playing parents of a disabled son with the care it deserves.
But as much as so many of us may want to, we can't rewrite "Grey's Anatomy." One fact that remains is that Jackson and April, along with the actors behind their stories, have always brought magic to even the most mundane material they were given.
So, ABC, my fingers are crossed for "New Horizons" to be on the air by 2023, whether or not "Grey's Anatomy" is still trundling onward at that point. Because there are far more vital (and interesting) stories that can and need to be told, far beyond the walls of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.