Grey's Anatomy: Why T.R. Knight's George Returned In Season 17
Grey’s Anatomy season 17 saw the surprise return of two beloved characters, but one was more unexpected than the other as he left many, many seasons back: George O’Malley, and here’s why he came back. Created by Shonda Rhimes, Grey’s Anatomy premiered on ABC in 2005, and even though it was initially a mid-season replacement, it quickly earned the praise of critics and viewers, and so it has lived on for over a decade. Although most of its original cast is now gone, Grey’s Anatomy continues to be quite popular, and to the relief of many, it shows no signs of stopping soon.
Like any other medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy follows the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they do their best to juggle their professional and personal lives, which often overlap and make way for a lot of drama both in and outside the hospital. The series is led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who started as an intern alongside some fan-favorite characters: Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), and George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), all of which are no longer part of the series. The most heartbreaking departure, however, was that of George O’Malley, who had a sudden and tragic death in season 6, and made a surprise return in season 17.
George struggled to find his path in the field of medicine, and when he seemed to have finally found it, he suddenly joined the U.S. Army in Iraq. Richard Webber decided to give him his last day off so he could spend some time with his family before he left, but on his way home, he saved a woman’s life by jumping in front of a bus – unfortunately, this left him severely injured and disfigured, to the point where he was unrecognizable, and it wasn’t until he traced “007” (one of his nicknames) on Meredith’s hand that they knew they were treating George. His brain swelled during surgery and he was declared brain dead. After that, George appeared in flashbacks and special episodes, but he made a more solid comeback in season 17, as part of Meredith’s COVID hallucinations.
Speaking to Deadline, executive producer and showrunner Krista Vernoff and T.R. Knight opened up about George’s return to Grey’s Anatomy after all those years and what it meant to them and the characters in the series. Vernoff explained that George was her first idea when she came up with the image of Meredith walking on the beach during her COVID-induced dreams, in part because George is one of her favorite characters and also because of the dynamic between Meredith and George, and that of Pompeo and Knight. Knight shared that Vernoff talked about giving George closure by bringing him back, which he didn’t think the character needed until his husband told him that “sometimes closure’s shutting a door, and sometimes it’s revisiting a familiar room”.
Although fans were happy to see T.R. Knight back as George O’Malley in Grey’s Anatomy season 17 it also came as a surprise – the return of Patrick Dempsey’s Derek Shepherd also as one of Meredith’s hallucinations was also a nice surprise but a somewhat predictable one as he was her husband, but George’s appearance wasn’t one fans were expecting. Whether this brief return gave full closure to George O’Malley or not is something that fans will decide, but it was surely nice to see him again.
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