Sarah Drew Opens up About Reuniting With Jesse Williams for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Finale

Grey’s Anatomy celebrates its 400th episode with Thursday night’s two-hour Season 18 finale. It promises to be an incredible night for the doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and viewers at home. Sarah Drew and Jesse Williams are both back for the special episode, which sees Jackson Avery now representing a foundation.

“Jackson is there representing the foundation and I am not entirely clear whether I work for the foundation now or not,” Drew, who plays April Kepner, told Entertainment Tonight. “But I’m there being a support and there’s a lot of upheaval at the hospital, so Jackson is coming to try to sort out how to solve the upheaval and fix some of the issues.”

It’s not clear where April and Jackson‘s relationship stands. Drew said the two “share the screen” together at some point in the Season 18 finale. “You will see Jackson and April in a scene or two together and that’s all I can tell you,” Drew said. “You’ll get a little window into what’s going on.”

Drew left Grey’s Anatomy in 2018, but she returned to help wrap up Williams’ storyline before he left last year. Her return for the Season 18 finale is a little different because she didn’t shoot scenes at the hospital set. “When I returned last year, it was in April’s house and I only worked with Jesse and it wasn’t with our crew,” Drew told ET. “It was a separate unit doing our [scenes] as a standalone so getting to be on the stages and walk through the hallways with my crew and with the cast, it was so wonderful. It felt like a wonderful homecoming.”

It was “also very surreal” to be back at the hospital set because it felt like no time had passed since she left, Drew said. “You spend nine years in one place with the same group of people, I could have been gone for 15 years and gone back and still felt like it was yesterday,” Drew told ET. “So yeah, it’s such a sweet place and a sweet community. It was just such a gift to get to be asked to come back and ring in the 400th episode with everyone.”

Grey’s Anatomy was already renewed for a 19th season, making it the longest-running scripted primetime series in ABC’s history. Drew would be willing to return if she’s asked. “That’s one of my dearest families over there and it’s been really fun the last two seasons to go and pop in and visit,” Drew said. “I’m not opposed to going and popping in for another visit so it just depends on where the story takes them.”

The Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 finale airs Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. All of Season 18 is available to stream on Hulu. Netflix is the streaming home for the first 17 seasons.