The new ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ interns just spilled the wildest secrets behind their debuts!

 

Over the last 18 seasons, Grey’s Anatomy has seen its share of shocking moments, thrilling surprises, and, of course, a roster of cast members coming through the halls of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. But let’s not forget how it all started, with five bright-eyed and eager interns looking to make their mark on the world of medicine: Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Alex Karev, Izzie Stevens, and George O’Malley.

While many faces have come and gone since day one of the interns’ first year in residency — or, as with Grey’s OGs Meredith Grey, Miranda Bailey, and Richard Webber, been with us for the entire run — with season 19, Grey’s Anatomy is returning to its roots by hearkening back to what established the longest-running prime-time medical drama in TV history as appointment TV. That’s right, this season there are five new surgical residents coming to GSMH, and for the first time since Grey’s Anatomy debuted in 2005, these new faces will be appearing as series regulars on the hit ABC series as they navigate the ins and outs of the hospital’s relaunched residency program in Seattle.

Left to right: Niko Terho, Midori Francis, Adelaide Kane, Alexis Floyd, Harry Shum Jr.

Nino Muñoz

Harry Shum Jr., Adelaide Kane, Alexis Floyd, Niko Terho, and Midori Francis will star as interns Benson “Blue” Kwan, Jules Millin, Simone Griffith, Lucas Adams, and Mika Yasuda respectively. The fivesome are guaranteed to bring the laughs and drama fans have come to know and love from the series while also representing a re-forming of those kismet connections we saw between the early seasons’ core group of interns.

In anticipation of welcoming Shum Jr., Kane, Floyd, Terho, and Midori to the family, Shondaland had the chance to catch up with the five actors in an exclusive interview on the set of Grey’s Anatomy, where they dished on their characters, inspiration for their roles, building chemistry on set, a few of their favorite things, and who from the original Grey’s cast has helped them along the way.

Harry Shum, Jr. as Benson “Blue” Kwan

Nino Muñoz

Harry Shum Jr. is new to the world of medicine, but he’s no stranger to standout acting roles. The San Francisco native previously starred as Mike Chang on Fox’s Glee and as Magnus Bane on Freeform’s Shadowhunters. He has also appeared in several films, including Crazy Rich Asians and Everything Everywhere All at Once. In Grey’s Anatomy, Shum Jr. stars as Benson “Blue” Kwan, a gifted first-year surgical resident who is intelligent and kindhearted but also impatient and hyper-competitive with his fellow interns. Despite Kwan’s career plans being previously derailed by a family emergency, he’s still ready to make his mark, with Shum Jr. saying of his character, “he has a one-track mind. Blue just wants to win at everything [and] be No. 1 — that’s his whole life. That’s what he’s kind of focused on. So, there’s not much room to actually apply anything else. Social skills are not really there. And relationships — you know, it’s a struggle for him. So, I think his time at Grey Sloan will — hopefully, he’ll be able to be a little better and get a little better at those things.”

 

“It’s a lot of weight on our shoulders [laughs]. You know, I’ll say this: Like yesterday, we had this scene — we’ve been having a lot of scenes together, some of us, like maybe three or four [of us]. I will say, personally, in my opinion, I always have so much fun around this new group. And sometimes that’s hard to capture, or when all these individuals have different backgrounds, have them come together and just have fun in doing this thing that can be very complicated. There’s so many moving parts. But I think at the end of the day, having this cushion to know that we’re all supporting each other — while also trying to deliver whatever we need to deliver, deliver within our own characters — is, I think, really special. So, I think that is what makes this group really, really beautiful. And then hopefully, audiences will see that.”

“I was thinking about a scene where we were educating teenagers about a certain subject. I mean, all across the board it was funny, but Midori…I could not breathe from laughing at the moments that she had. That was something that Kevin [McKidd, who plays Owen Hunt] directed, and it was just really, really fun. … What these writers come up with, it’s so spontaneous, and so fun, and so at the moment. I think that’s what makes it so fun, that you’re not just doing things that are scripted but [are] also just in between the lines. It’s just so beautiful, and I think that’s what y’all bring to the table, and it’s just really fun to see.”