Jessica Capshaw Moves on From ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

[This story contains mild spoilers from the season premiere of 9-1-1: Nashville.]

Jessica Capshaw can never quite seem to escape Grey’s Anatomy, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. In her first major foray into television since departing Grey’s as a series regular in 2018, Capshaw is trading in her hospital scrubs for the attire of a high-powered equestrian and entrepreneur in a new 9-1-1 spinoff set in Music City — which launched right before the venerable medical drama’s 22nd season on ABC.

Co-created by Ryan Murphy, Tim Minear and Rashad Raisani, 9-1-1: Nashville stars NCIS: LA alum Chris O’Donnell as Don Hart, a former rodeo rider and the fire captain of the city’s Station 113. The latest installment will blend the same high-octane, life-threatening emergencies of its predecessors — the original 9-1-1 also returned Thursday for season nine without original star Peter Krause, while the Austin-set Lone Star starring Rob Lowe ended earlier this year after five seasons — with a classic dose of soapy family drama in the vein of Dynasty and Succession.

But in a first for the 9-1-1 franchise, one of the leads is not a first-responder. Capshaw plays Blythe Hart, the matriarch of an aristocratic Southern family who fell for working-class Don many moons ago, despite her father’s disapproval, after he helped put out a fire at her ranch. Don and Blythe’s only son, Ryan (Michael Provost), has chosen to work alongside his father at the 113, leaving their family’s sprawling business empire in the hands of his mother.

“I do think a wonderful thing about playing her is that she just has this confidence and this chill — chill as in calm, not as in icy,” Capshaw tells The Hollywood Reporter. “She’s very confident and secure, but not, to me at least, in an effort to seem above it all. Even though she has so much and is so privileged, there’s something very warm and earthy about her. Her efforts to be a part of that family for [Don] at work and at home is very evident later in the season.”

Don and Blythe’s marriage will be tested as they grapple with the inevitable arrival of Blue Bennings (Hunter McVey), the son Don fathered decades ago in a previous relationship with failed backup singer Dixie (LeAnn Rimes). As Dixie, who is dealing with her own health issues, encourages Blue to “sink [his] hooks” into the Hart family (and their deep pockets), Blythe begins to suspect the Bennings have ulterior motives for showing back up in Don’s life.

It’s a juicy premise that immediately appealed to Capshaw, who has relished the opportunity to help build a show from the ground up for the first time. “The beginning was unique in that it wasn’t completely unknown territory, because I did know how beloved the original 9-1-1 was and is, and then Lone Star. There was an understanding of its capacity to charm and engage audiences,” she says. “We do have crossover with the original 9-1-1 cast members when doing press to promote the show, so it feels like a family. We’re lucky enough to stand on their shoulders and also they on ours, hopefully, in our success.”

Calling in from Nashville, where she is halfway done shooting the first season, Capshaw opens up below to THR about her long-awaited return to the small screen, the enduring legacy of Grey’s‘ Dr. Arizona Robbins and her fan-favorite relationship with Sara Ramirez’s Dr. Callie Torres — and whether she might pull double duty for an episode or two of Grey’s and Nashville this season.

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For TV viewers who have grown accustomed to watching you on Grey’s, how would you compare and contrast Arizona Robbins with Blythe Hart?

I always felt that when Arizona came into Grey’s, it was during a time when the series had reached such a fever pitch. It was such a popular show, and part of what I think people responded to was that it was so honest. There were these friendships at the center of these crazy life-and-death circumstances that really allowed you to understand these young people as they were making their way through their residencies. As you got to know Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) dark and twisty, the show was like, “We’re going to show you our guts. We’re going to show you the actual insides of our emotional lives, and then we’re going to show you our patient’s actual guts.” Then when I came on in the fifth season, looking back on it now, I think that they were ready for a little bit of lightness.

Arizona came on with so much hope. She worked with children. She was interestingly and uniquely, but not in a bad way, delusional like, “I’m going to be who I am in this world.” My storylines were all with Bailey (Chandra Wilson). She was so used to telling everyone else what to do, and Arizona just kept smiling, going along, and giving her a chance. Then finally, she turned on her and was like, “I get it. I’m a stranger with a ponytail and a smile, but I know what I’m fucking doing. So back off.” That lightness and brightness came in a way that worked for that time. Then over the next 10 years, we obviously took huge, huge journeys with her, but she did retain that light quality.

I think Blythe has a lightness about her that might come from her privilege. Believe you me, we’re going to find out a lot of things that are very heavy, but she tries to bring the light and warmth to the situation. She’s very inclusive and warm and makes decisions to include [others] where I think a lot of people would be like, “Hell no! That person?” (Laughs.) So that is definitely something I see as a common thread between the characters. I think that they both definitely occupy the space of understanding that they know what they want.

The contrast — when I was watching it — is surprising, because there’s a calmness in playing Blythe. I don’t know if it’s that she’s southern and there’s a mannered quality to the way that she conducts herself or the way she dresses, or, again, the privilege that she has, or that she’s married to and is the mother and wife of two men that run into burning buildings; you definitely have to have a certain disposition to be OK with that choice. But she has a calm about her that I don’t know that Arizona necessarily played in her relationships. She played them in the OR, but not in relationships. She was bouncy, and Blythe is not bouncy.

Given that you are playing a main character who is not a first responder, what kinds of discussions have you had with showrunner Rashad Raisani about Blythe’s place in the story? How did you think about building her as a character?

When we got here to start making the show, the first scenes I had were with Michael Provost, who plays our son Ryan, and then with Chris. Either by happenstance or coincidence, our first scenes were together, and that is the trio. Their last name is Hart, but that is the heart. It starts with them and their love of family. What’s been really important is this partnership between Blythe and Don. It has grown into something that shouldn’t be aspirational. We all should be in these loving and equal partnerships, and really be able to take each other to the mat, and then also love each other up as much as possible, but that is what has happened. There’s already been a lot of ups and downs and all arounds and discoveries, and ways in which they as a couple have had to persevere and ask some follow-up questions so that they can get right with each other. But ultimately, they’re trying really hard to take care of their family.

Speaking of family, what has been really important to me — and what I’ve spoken to Rashad about a lot, and something that has grown organically — is that Blythe is in the firehouse every so often. I wouldn’t call her a den mother, but she is very familiar with the squad. We made a decision that, when she walks into rooms or hospitals or emergencies, there’s a real shorthand between her and the squad. She knows Roxie. She knows Taylor. She’s going to get to know Blue! But she knows Ryan, and I do think a wonderful thing about playing her is that she just has this confidence and this chill — chill as in calm, not as in icy. She’s just very confident and secure, but not, to me at least, in an effort to seem above it all. Even though she has so much and is so privileged, there’s something also very warm and earthy about her. I think that her efforts to be a part of that family for him at work and at home is very evident later in the season.

The trailer revealed that Don is the biological father of Blue, and Blue’s single mother, Dixie, appears to be hatching a secret plan to get Blue to worm his way into the vast Hart family fortune. The pilot sees Blue come face-to-face with Ryan for the first time, but it also reveals that Blythe has known about Blue’s existence for years. How does Blythe feel about the fact that her husband has fathered another child outside of their relationship, and how did you think about playing the reveal that she has known about this other child all along?

I thought it was very interesting because obviously, for Ryan, it’s completely shocking. The entire circumstance of him meeting his half-brother is shocking. And, of course, he first goes to his father, because he’s the one that tells him and has a private conversation, and it’s not entirely satisfying. He doesn’t get all the answers to why and how and what exactly happened. So then you have him finding his mother where he’s like, “Mom, this is bad. Dad betrayed us.” It’s protective, and it’s kind. Michael is such a talented young actor and so wonderful to work with, and it really was our actual first day of filming, so it’s gobsmacking to me that we managed to pull off the scene that looks like we really have known each other for so long. (Laughs.)

He comes to me and says, “This is all wrong, and this is terrible.” I said to Rashad — and it’ll be interesting to see what people’s perception of it is — that it was really important to me that we keep the ethos of the lines that were written. Because she’s not saying, “It’s no big deal,” but she’s saying, “I know. This [happened during] a period of time where we were separated, and believe you me, I had my fun too.” In a way, to me, it really puts a finer point on — this is not a woman who got cheated on, who was betrayed, who got left, and then figured out how to be OK with it. There’s no martyrdom in it. There’s no victimhood. There was a period of time where Don and Blythe weren’t going to make it; they weren’t going to stay together. So they had this separation, and these things happened.

When a child came of it, there really wasn’t a ton of her being like, “Off with your head!” and flipping tables, and “No, this can’t be!” It was kind of the only occasion in which there could be not an equal but at least a level playing field. It helped me understand how she could move forward and how she could say, “OK, this happened, and now what? Because we’ve already made this choice to stay together. So what does that mean?” And, again, that’s where I think Blythe’s warmth and generosity comes in, because she says to Ryan, “We’ve been supporting this child since the day he was born.” And this is not her child!

How does Blythe really feel about Dixie, though? Does she feel threatened by the extensive history that this woman has with her husband, considering that they come from the side of the tracks?

Certainly. We wouldn’t have the drama without it! Again, I go back to this confidence that she has that is wild to me. And when I play it, I’m like, “Damn, Blythe, you’ve got this.” But she’s less threatened and more that she just knows she’s trouble. She just knows that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. She just knows that if you give her an inch, she’s going to take a mile. It’s like, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” So I think she’s very cautious about her. I think she knows that Don is such a good person and that he has been missing this piece of his life in having a child that has been around in the world without him.

I think that she’s also just trying to manage all of it. We’ll get to it later in the show, but Blythe wears a ton of hats in her family. She’s got this big family, but she’s actually in the inner workings of running the businesses, so she’s not just at home. It would be fine if she was, but my point is, she’s not doing nothing. She’s managing, whether it’s the whiskey business or the philanthropy or the race horses. Honestly, I’m not sure how she can be doing as much as she’s doing, but she’s doing a lot. (Laughs.)

It’s not lost on me that you are now returning to the same network that made you a star 15 years ago, and Nashville is the lead-in for Grey’s this fall. The latter has become a cultural touchstone at this point, and after having played one of the first lesbian main characters on network television, you are closely intertwined with the show’s diverse and inclusive legacy. When did you first notice and understand the impact that Arizona has had, particularly on queer women?

I noticed a very distinct shift, really, through streaming. Once it was on Netflix and people were not just watching it in real time, they were going back and watching it, and then they were going through and watching it again and again and again. Shonda’s commitment to that character, I will be forever grateful to her for sometimes even seeing things that I couldn’t even necessarily imagine. I was like, “OK, here we go.” There was a great partnership with Shonda [Rhimes], there was a wonderful partnership between Sara and I, and I do think that we created something really, really special. So I think that I noticed it when streaming made it even more available, and then I definitely had a front row seat when people started coming up to me. It was the thing that was top of mind for people when they came up to say something.

I would get really incredible letters that were just describing life-altering experiences from people who were not talking to their parents because they had come out and their parents had been like, “This is not whatever … fill in the blank.” And through the show, they had seen this other side of something and gone back to their child and been like, “I see this other thing that I didn’t see.” That was bonkers to me. The fact that a television show could create a pathway to repair was wild to me, and it really was so emotional. So I was very, very grateful for that because, honestly, in the beginning, you’re playing a part and you’re creating a character. It’s a very different kind of acting. It’s not a movie where you get the whole script, and you know where you start and where you end. You’re on a television show where every single week you’re getting a new story. You don’t know what’s going to happen, and you’re truly, as much as you’re creating the ride, also along for the ride.

How has your relationship with the character changed over time, particularly as you have had time and space away from the show?

That’s a very interesting question. I’m not quite exactly sure how to answer it, only because I think that you’d get the script, you’d play it, it would get edited, you would see it, and then that’s where it lived. It lived in relation to the rest of the season, and I didn’t do a ton of going back and watching it. I will say that it became popular for teenage girls especially, I think, to watch it over and over and over again. For my kids, of course, that’s their mom. So I don’t think it was  purposeful [on their part], like, “I’m not going to watch it,” but I didn’t feel like they started watching it when some of their other friends did.

And then when they actually did start watching it, I would hear my voice in the living room. I would be like, “What’s going on?” (Laughs.) And I would come in. When I walked into the room and I started watching it, in this particular instance, it was the beginning [of Arizona]. It was something that I filmed, I don’t know, 13, 14 years ago, and you’re that much older, you’re more into your life and you look at it. It stays in this little moment, and I don’t necessarily revisit it so much as I can see how it gets rewatched the way that it does, and it’s pretty wild.

Do you sit down and rewatch Grey’s at all with your kids now that they are interested in the show? Or are you the kind of actor who doesn’t like watching themselves on screen?

I do give grace to my younger self. In this particular instance, I did come around the corner, I heard my voice, and I stood there. She was watching it and I was watching it, and I did stay for the rest of the scene. But I definitely feel like she was like, “This is too meta. I need you to get out!” (Laughs.)

Grey’s showrunner Meg Marinis has said that she has an open door policy with all of the show’s alumni, and she has been intentional about which characters she has brought back. Your return in season 20 was designed to bring back some of the joy, levity and love for teaching that the attendings at Grey Sloan were desperately missing. You have a new day job that is keeping you very busy these days, but would you want to return more in a guest-starring capacity?

I love Meg, and one of my best friends, Camilla Luddington [who plays Jo], is still on the show. She and I have our podcast called Call It What It Is, so I spend at least five hours a week with Camilla working on other things. It was home for so long, and I love it there. I love the family and I love the character, so I’m always available to that show. I don’t know how it would go now. I’ve thought about it — I don’t know if it would be super distracting if I was at 9 o’clock Blythe, and then 10 o’clock Arizona, but I would be game to try!

Do you think Arizona and Callie have found their way back to each other in New York?

I love that you saved that question for last! (Laughs.) That’s too hard a question to answer, because you know what? What I love and think is so fascinating and so cool is that the fans of Grey’s Anatomy — and specifically the fans of certain ships and couples — come up with all this fanfiction. I haven’t read it all and I don’t go mining for it, but I will tell you that I know it exists. The reason I’m bringing it up is because I would not dare to imagine what is happening in the make-believe land of Callie and Arizona or the alumni characters as they live and breathe after they’ve left the hospital. But I think that all these different fanfictions that come up with things is so cool, so I have no idea. But I think that if you’re committed to that relationship and if you’ve been a fan of that relationship, then whatever you want to imagine about them and where they are is what should be living in your head.

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9-1-1: Nashville airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC, followed by Grey’s Anatomy at 10/9c. Episodes stream the next day on Hulu.