Sarah Drew andJesse Williams are returning to "Grey's Anatomy " for the season 18 finale.- They previously reunited as exes Jackson and April on a May 6, 2021, episode.
Jesse Williams and Sarah Drew will return to "Grey's Anatomy" for the season 18 finale on May 26 as fan-favorite couple Jackson Avery and April Kepner, Deadline reported on Friday.
The news comes less than a year after it was announced that Williams would exit the show as a series regular.
On a May 6, 2021, episode titled "Look Up, Child" Jackson visits April to ask her to move to Boston with him so he could run his family's foundation and live out his dream of providing minorities with better medical care.
Drew made a return to the series for the episode, after a controversial exit in the season 14 finale. Williams' last episode as a series regular was the season 17 finale, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," during which he congratulated Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) on moving into his old apartment during a quick video call.
Williams and Drew's on-screen reunion in season 17 instantly sparked chatter of a spin-off for the fictional couple, known as "
Drew was all for the idea at a May 2021 postmortem roundtable for "Look Up, Child" attended by Insider.
"I just kept thinking like, 'how cool would this couple be?' [Jackson] working from the position of having money and power to be actually able to make that change. And then she's working with folks experiencing homelessness and she's also [trying to make change] in her own way. These two could change the world of medicine, right?" she mused about the idea of a spinoff.
Speaking with Insider in December in a joint interview with Drew for the anniversary of a pivotal Japril episode, Williams said of the work they did together, "There's 'Grey's Anatomy' scenes, and there's Japril scenes. It's not really tied to the show or you don't have to worry about whether it's cheesy or try to make it work, because our stuff was its own tunnel."
"We made all of our shit really real, or else we didn't do it," he continued.
The news of Williams and Drew's return comes after "Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo told Insider in November that she understands why fans want a Japril spinoff.
"Sarah Drew and Jesse are both great to watch, but whatever Jesse wants and whatever Sarah wants, if they wanted to do it, then I would be so happy for the fans," she said. "I get it. I'd watch it."
The nature of the former couple's return in season 18 is currently unknown, but the episode is rumored to be titled "You Are The Blood."
Williams gave Insider insight into what he thought their life in Boston was like in December.
"I think that they probably moved there with separate apartments and she's always at my place," he sad.
"Grey's Anatomy" returns from hiatus May 5 at 9 p.m. ET.