Grey’s Anatomy firefighter spin-off: Jason George joining
According to The Hollywood Reporter, George will be bringing his character of Ben Warren over to the spin-off show at some point during the upcoming season. He will continue to be a regular on Grey’s Anatomy before making the full-time jump over; at the moment, we’d compare the situation somewhat to what we saw with Ryan Eggold with The Blacklist/The Blacklist: Redemption last season. Even if the spin-off doesn’t work out, we do figure that there’s always a chance he could go back to the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. After all, his relationship with Miranda Bailey and his profession always make that possible.
There was understandably some confusion when it comes to whether or not George would be appearing on this new show, given that in the season 13 finale of Grey’s Anatomy we saw the character put on a firefighter jacket and step into the position of hero. However, in the process of that we also heard that the plan was for the spin-off to feature an entirely new cast. Maybe some words were twisted over time, or the thinking ended up changing when someone realized that Jason was the perfect person to bring over. He’s charismatic, capable of handling action sequences, and he gives longtime fans of the original Grey’s Anatomy a reason to watch.
The spin-off doesn’t have an official name just yet, but Rosewood alum Jaina Lee Ortiz is also set to be one of the stars. The big challenge that we foresee for it is trying to find a way to draw the line between what you’ve got here, and then also what you’ve got over on Chicago Med/Chicago Fire. The relationship between the hospital and the firehouse will have to be similar — there’s only so much that can be done there — so you have to find some other ways to make things stand out.
Our anticipation is that you’re going to see the firefighter spin-off at some point in the spring, especially once we get through either the final season of Scandal or the latest season of How to Get Away with Murder. It makes the most sense for ABC to pair up this show with Grey’s Anatomy proper as a means to get it some more viewers. Grey’s remains the most-popular drama series on the network, even if it is at this point so deep into its run. Even if this spin-off manages to get just 60-70% of its audience, it’ll be considered a solid hit and be allowed to stay put for a rather long time.
What do you think about Jason George getting this gig?
Be sure to share in the CarterMatt comments section below! Meanwhile, be sure to visit the link here in the event that you haven’t seen the new Grey’s Anatomy season 14 trailer yet! We think there’s a rather great deal of content to like about that, including some of the first footage of Abigail Spencer as Megan Hunt. (Photo: ABC.)