Source: Glamour 

Dr. Addison Montgomery has returned!

(SPOILERS ARE NOT INCLUDED)

Actress Kate Walsh, who played Dr. Addison Montgomery on ABC’s "Grey’s Anatomy", has returned to the show for the 18th season as an OB/GYN. The actress announced her return a few weeks ago by sharing a video on social media doing one of the trends. As soon as the announcement was made, the video went viral and people across the world embraced the news with beautiful messages stating that they had been waiting for this for a while.

During an interview with ET’s Nischelle Turner over Zoom, the actress, who is currently residing in Australia, said that her return to the show is ‘completely surreal.’ She added, "There's no way to even articulate it. I knew it would be odd, but it was so emotional, and so big and yeah, beyond, because when's the last time you went back to a job that you started 18 years ago that you left 10 years ago? You know what I'm saying? There's no infrastructure. There's no construct for it because even if you say, 'Oh, it's kind of like going home to your parents,' and you're like, 'Wait, this is my room? OK, yeah, that's right, I have an airplane bed."

Addison Montgomery returns to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to work on a complicated medical case and shake things up for the residents to bring them back in the game after the pandemic pushed their residency one year back. She later explained that she is there to perform Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital’s first surgical uterine transplant, and will select one of the residents to be credited when she publishes the first round of patient results. Kate Walsh was a series regular for seasons 2 and 3 before leading her spinoff, ‘Private Practice', for six seasons, and shared that she hasn’t stepped into Addison's high heels for nearly a decade but she is excited to make her return. 

Talking more about her return, the 54-year-old actress said that she and the showrunners had been talking about Addison’s return as a little visit to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital for a while now. She explained that they were trying to figure out the perfect timing and storyline for Addison to enter the show. Kate further revealed, "And I thought, you know what? This is the right time. Also, the story, the writing is so great, and I mentioned this before, but Jamie Denbo, who is a longtime friend of mine, wrote the first episode that I appeared in, and it was so great. The writing is... classic, I would say vintage Grey's. It's that fine line between making you laugh and cry, hopefully. "

Source: Flipboard

Showrunner Vernoff shared that Kate’s first day on set saw "a lot of people were tearing up. It was like your favourite sister coming home after a decade overseas." Kate also mentioned that her return now was more significant than ever because "she hasn’t been back for pretty poignant events in Grey’s history, like Derek’s funeral, Meredith’s children, and [former sister-in-law] Amelia [Shepherd’s] child". The actress added that with the cast and crew of Grey's Anatomy, "Personal moments sometimes come out of nowhere and it’s surprising and moving and hopefully compelling."

Kate Walsh received a positive response from the audience when she was a series regular for her witty, sarcastic character, and now, after so many years, she has returned and describes the return as emotional. She believes that the return will surely give fans some nostalgia and a lot of feels. Kate said, "I think in every interview I've ever done in the last 10 years or whatever, it was like, 'would you ever go back? And so, guess what? Yes is the answer. I am doing it, I did it, and so I hope that people are going to love it. I have gotten positive feedback from a few people behind the scenes after seeing the episode and are excited."

One of the things that fans noticed during the trailer of Addison’s fiery return was the similarity it had to that of her entrance in Season 1’s finale in 2005 where she says to Meredith, "You must be the woman who's been screwing my husband."  She was introduced as Patrick Dempsey, who played Dr. Derek Shepherd’s estranged wife. In season 18, she is introduced by saying to the residents, "You must be the residents screwing my program". Sharing about the entrance, Kate said it was funny during the table read over Zoom too and added, "I was like, OK, this is awesome. It's a total wink and a nod, total kitsch moment."

Source: US Weekly 

Kate, whose return to the show was highly anticipated, said she was initially worried and nervous about returning to the Grey’s world. Kate added, "I said to Krista and the delightful and amazingly talented Chandra Wilson, who plays Bailey and who also directs a lot of the episodes now -- she directed the episode. It was like an old homeschool week and I felt in such great hands. I said to her, 'It's so weird how you immediately become an actress -- 'Wait does my hair look OK? Did I do it OK? ' You just become this quivering, insecure person and so in that moment you just have to land it, and I'm like, 'I hope it worked!' "

In her podcast, "Tell Me with Ellen Pompeo", Ellen, who plays the lead Dr. Meredith Grey, opened up about Kate Walsh’s return by saying that she is so. Ellen added that Kate moved to Australia, so they haven’t hung out, but she has so much affection and love for the original cast. "We all went through something that only we can understand. So it's always just really fun and very emotional, to be honest. When any of the original cast members get together, we always start crying, and we're like, 'Why are we crying?'" she added.

Fans have been wondering about what the makers have for Dr. Addison Montgomery and Dr. Meredith Grey, to which Ellen has said that the writers are trying to figure it out and she is not trying to pressure them. Pompeo says of what's to come. "So it's a huge job they have. And that's really all I can say about it. So everyone just has to tune in!"

The episode that will see Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery’s return is streaming on ABC. "Grey's Anatomy" airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.