It’s hard to believe that Jason George’s first appearance on Grey’s Anatomy was way back in Season 6’s Mercy West Era, which introduced us to now-long-gone characters like Jackson, April, Reed and Charles. Another of those Mercy West transplants was Ben Warren, who quickly struck up a romance with Chandra Wilson’s Miranda Bailey. Fourteen years later they’re still going strong, and as George prepares to jump back onto Grey’s Anatomy full time following Station 19’s cancellation, he had the sweetest thing to say about his TV wife that made me even more excited about his return.
Jason George continued to appear on Grey’s Anatomy several times each season, despite becoming a series regular on Station 19 when the spinoff launched in 2018. By that same token, Chandra Wilson guest-starred at least a few times each season on the firefighter drama, solidifying Ben and Miranda’s place as the strongest couple in that Seattle universe. George’s excitement about getting to work with Wilson full time again is palpable, as he told US Weekly:
That for me is like, your favorite jacket, that’s like your best pair of shoes. When Chandra and I get together… just give us the words and it’ll happen. She’s such a good person and we have a good time.
As a longtime Grey’s Anatomy watcher and “Benley” fan, it warms my dark and twisty heart to hear Jason George describe his working relationship with Chandra Wilson as something as comfortable — and damn good-looking — as a favorite sweater. Regardless of whose show they appeared on at any given time, Ben and Bailey always just slipped back into that sweet spot.
Now that Ben is returning to Grey Sloan Memorial to finish his surgical residency — a fate that was revealed in Station 19’s series finale — we get to see him and his wife in the same building much more often. Given how safe the two actors feel with each other, I can’t wait to see what the writers plan for them, now that there’s more time to develop stories that go beyond Bailey worrying about Ben fighting fires or Ben popping out of an ambulance to deliver a burn victim to the ER.
In the middle of Station 19’s final season before its 2024 cancellation, it looked like Grey’s Anatomy might be making plans to bring Jason George back, and Grey’s showrunner Meg Marinis commented at the time on how important Ben and Bailey’s relationship was to both George and Chandra Wilson. It was very important to both actors that what they did on each show remained one symbiotic thing.
I guess that’s how you make a relationship last when you go off to star on a whole new series for seven seasons, and it definitely worked, since they’ll be reunited on the 2024 TV schedule this fall when Grey’s Anatomy returns in a new timeslot for its 21st season. While we wait for a premiere date, you can relive any of Benley’s best moments on Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19, with both series available to stream in full with a Hulu subscription.