‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Ellen Pompeo Tells What It Was Like Reuniting With Kate Walsh

Addison Montgomery is returning to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital Thursday night. After last appearing on the series back in Season 8, and after leaving the Grey’s franchise altogether with the 2013 conclusion of spinoff Private Practice, Kate Walsh is poised to make her return to Grey’s Anatomy in “Hotter Than Hell,” her return bringing with it a reunion that has been almost 10 years in the making between her onscreen counterpart and Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey.

Ahead of Walsh’s grand return to the beloved ABC medical drama, Pompeo spoke to Entertainment Tonight about that anticipated reunion, boasting that she and her former co-star “had a great time working together.” Pompeo, who noted that she and Walsh hadn’t seen one another “in a really long time because of the pandemic” and because of Walsh’s move to Australia, added that “it was really, really nice to see her and it was really fun to get to work with her.” The actress went on to note that Wash’s return marked the return of another original cast member, with Walsh having first joined Grey’s at the end of Season 1 as Derek Shepherd’s wife.

“The original cast, we have such an intense bond because we went through something so intense together,” she said. “And to be able to come together and have the show still be the way in which we see each other and communicate and to see what we created and everything that the work that went into the beginning years… To see all that hard work culminate in something that’s still so well-received and still so celebrated is a really special bond that we all have together.”

While a first-look clip released last week teased Walsh’s return to the series, showing her heading back to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to get the new class of residents into shape, Pompeo offered a little more insight into what fans can expect. As that initial short clip teased, Addison will also be scrubbing into surgery and requesting the help of none other than Meredith Grey herself.

“We are doing a surgery together. Addison Montgomery is presented with a super challenging surgery and she needs some help. So she says, ‘Please get me Meredith Grey,’” Pompeo said. “And then I come in and we do this surgery together.”

Walsh’s return to Grey’s was first confirmed in early September, with the actress telling fans in a video that she is “so excited to be home again” and is looking forward to “joining Shonda [Rhimes], Ellen [Pompeo], and the rest of the incredible cast.” She is set to appear in a multi-episode arc, with Pompeo having suggested to ET that Walsh may appear in three or more episodes, though an exact number wasn’t given. Fans can catch Walsh’s return to the show when Grey’s Anatomy returns to ABC with a new episode Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET.