Danielle Savre Breaks Down Maya’s Near-Death Return to the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Universe (Exclusive)
Savre opens up about what her character has been up to since ‘Station 19’ went off the air, and what fans can expect from boyfriend Kevin McKidd’s final episode next week.
It was another very rough day at the office for Maya Bishop (Danielle Savre), one of the firefighters from the former ABC drama Station 19. She found herself being wheeled into Grey Sloane Memorial Hospital on Grey’s Anatomy after falling through the roof of a burning building to save her probie.
Fans haven’t seen or heard from Maya since Station 19 was canceled two seasons ago, but Savre returned to the Grey’s Anatomy universe for this special episode. The storyline reunited Maya with Ben Warren (Jason George), who temporarily left his medical career to be a firefighter for seven seasons on Station 19. Now Ben is back to being a doctor, and his former captain came in as his patient.
Parade caught up with Savre to talk about Maya’s injuries and what she’s been up to since Station 19 went off the air. The actress was also able to tease what fans can expect from the Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 finale on May 7, which centers on a bridge collapse, and is her real-life boyfriend Kevin McKidd‘s final episode (for now) of the show.
How did your return to the Grey’s universe come about?
It was out of the damn blue! I did not expect it. I didn’t know it was coming. Now that I know her backstory, I get what was going on internally. Since Carina hasn’t been on the show, there was no reason for Maya to come in. They’re not going to have me just drop off a patient in the ambulance. Even though last season, when the explosion happened, I was shadowing Debbie Allen and on set with Meg Marinis [Grey’s showrunner]. I asked her, “Meg, how are you not having Station 19? Even if it’s not me, just any Station 19 firefighter attending to people at this explosion.” The excuse is always that, “you guys are too expensive. You guys are just too expensive.”
So it’s always been kind of a running joke. I did not think it was going to happen, especially for something as simple as dropping off a patient. I heard through the grapevine that I might be in the next episode. All of a sudden I got the call asking for my availability. It was kind of like shock and disbelief. Then I got really excited and happy that I was going to get to be Maya again. I still had no context for what it was going to be. I was trying to get some information like, is it me and Carina?…I had no context at all, and then I finally got the script. As an actor, it’s really awesome to play, but man, with Maya, it never ends.
What did it feel like playing her as a patient again? Historically, she does not do well in a hospital setting.
I still think she’s technically not good at being a patient. She is still so stubborn in this episode and doesn’t want Ben to call Carina. She’s still trying to be tough and the whole thing. It was much better to be a patient in this regard than being in a 5150 psychiatric hold and having a total mental breakdown…This had more heroic elements to it. She cares about her probie. She was there to save a life. It’s Maya really getting to be a hero, even if we didn’t get to see her be a hero. We’re getting to see the aftermath of what happens when you are done being a hero. I know firefighters hate to be called heroes, so I want to tiptoe around that, but I am not a firefighter, and I 100 percent think they’re heroes. So we get to see her be a hero in that moment.
You’re also unconscious for a good chunk of the episode. What was it like to have to lie on the table for that long? [Director] Linda Klein was worried. I’m very close friends with her — she’s probably going to be pissed I’m speaking for her — but she was a little like, “What? This is the storyline? Why isn’t Maya being a badass?” She’s the medical advisor, so she understands it. She didn’t want me to be on the table the whole time, and I was like, “Linda, this is such a good story to tell. I am so passionate about telling stories about real firefighters and what they go through. I’m going to lie on the table. I don’t care.”
And honestly? I had a blast. They took care of me so well. For the scene at the end, I’m supposed to be groggy, and I kind of kept falling asleep in the scene. In the OR scene, I’m lying spread out with the rest of the cast, and we were cracking jokes in between takes. Trevor Jackson is so funny, as is Jason George. I’ve got Trevor on one side and Jason George on the other. In between takes, I didn’t have to be emotional because I was just out. I could crack jokes and not feel like I was getting out of character. I kind of loved it.
The prosthetics were hard. It was two to three hours in the morning and another hour and a half at the end of the day. The prosthetic team is freaking amazing. They were phenomenal, but the amount that it took in the morning, after a while, I was like, “Okay, I’m done with this. I’m done with having rubbing alcohol rubbed all over my body.” I was very disinfected, that’s for sure.
What did you learn about Maya during this stint about where she is compared to where Station 19 left off?We’ve jumped forward a little bit. Maya says, “My probie,” so that means she’s a captain. Time has passed, and I feel like she’s in a healed place. I mean, we left her in a very healed place, but she wasn’t trying to go after the captain position. So if she’s captain now, it happened organically. It happened because she put in the time, and she proved herself. She didn’t have to blackmail anyone or do anything crazy. She’s in a really good place with her wife. Look at her! She was about to go on vacation to go to Italy…She’s finally able to take time off work. She’s in a great place. She’s in a stable place, obviously, besides the fact that she almost died, but mentally, she’s great.
We don’t get to see the phone call with Carina, but how do you imagine that went down? We’ve had this relationship and dynamic with them for so many years. Carina is angry at her, but it’s also through tears. “How dare you not call me? But I love you. Are you okay? I hate you for doing that. Don’t ever put me through that again.” I can see Carina being very upset but also understanding why Maya did it, at least in this situation. What was Carina going to do from another country? I think that’s a very selfless thing to do. Obviously, if Maya had died, it would have been a very different situation because she could have said her last words to her wife. But there is a stubbornness. Maya believed that Ben would save her. She’s like, “Look, I’m not dying. You can’t kill me.” She always knew she was going to be able to talk to her wife again. But Carina would be upset.
Did you have any feelings that a specific trauma surgeon didn’t tend to Maya in this episode? Are you talking about Kevin? I actually was very happy the the wasn’t, to be honest. I had a conversation with him about this the other day. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll see the videos that come on Instagram. He was visiting me every day because he was so excited that I was there. I’m happy because I think it would have been distracting to work with Kevin. But I was so grateful that we got to work together on the same set. He was overlapping with his finale that he was also directing. It’s his final episode. There was this moment where it overlapped by a couple of days. I was over on one unit getting saved, and he was on his unit, shooting his last episode. It was kind of a cool time to be there and be part of it all.
Can you tease anything about that final episode?
I went the last two days because it was part of the whole bridge collapse that ends this episode. It’s just so cool. It felt like it was shooting a movie. It’s really exciting. But yeah, I am glad he didn’t help save me. It would have been harder to get into character and be emotional, and get to those places, if he was there in those scenes.
If there was a reason to bring Maya back, not for medical care, what would be your dream to see Maya on Grey’s again?
It’s hard because the freakin’ explosion would have been a perfect opportunity to come in and save everyone. The idea of having them have another explosion would seem kind of far-fetched at this point. I would love to come back. We could do a pre-op with Jason, or if there’s a big accident that happens somewhere with mass casualties, and Station 19 is having to come in and rescue people. I miss holding an axe, a rotary saw, and a chainsaw. I miss the sparks. I miss the tools! Give me a high-pressure hose! So yeah, if I could come back and wouldn’t have to wear prosthetics because I would be in my turnouts. It would be really cool if something like that happens. How many times can you have something huge like that happen?
It’s Grey’s Anatomy. They do it quite frequently.
Okay, bring Maya back, and she can save some doctors, right?
Have the doctors walk her through an emergency surgery because they can’t operate on themselves.
That would be fun! You’re putting ideas in my head. I am going to be bugging Meg. She’ll be like, “Danielle, just because we brought you back for one episode doesn’t give you free rein.”
parade.com