As the much-anticipated Japril reunion episode, “Look Up Child,” aired last week, it didn’t take long for Grey’s Anatomyviewers to get an inkling that the episode may be a precursor to even more significant events than most had anticipated. After showing up on ex-wife April Kepner’s (Sarah Drew, who exited the series at the end of Season 14) doorstep in the middle of a thunderstorm, Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) dropped the bombshell that he has decided to leave Seattle for Boston, in order to run the Catherine Fox Foundation—and that he wants April and her family, including their daughter, Harriet, to come with him. Sure enough, Deadline confirmed that Jesse Williams will be exiting the long-running medical drama following the May 20 episode, which will be titled “Tradition.” In a statement provided to Deadline, Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff said, “Jesse brings so much heart, such depth of care, and so much intelligence to his work. We will miss Jesse terribly and we will miss Jackson Avery—played to perfection for so many years.” Williams has been part of the Grey’s Anatomy family since 2009, making his debut as surgical resident Jackson Avery in the Season 6 episode “Invasion,” alongside Drew’s April Kepner. Over the years, the two grew as surgeons, with Jackson choosing to specialize in plastics while April gravitated toward trauma. They also grew closer to each other, initially bonding as best friends and then, eventually, as lovers, culminating in one of the show’s most dramatic romantic gestures when Jackson interrupted April’s wedding to another man to declare his love for the bride. The couple wasted no time in getting married and, shortly after, April announced that she was pregnant. But tragedy struck when their baby was diagnosed with Osteogenesis Imperfecta type 2, a terminal condition that would cause the baby’s bones to repeatedly break while still in the womb, and would likely mean he wouldn’t survive long past birth. In one of Grey’s Anatomy’s most powerful and gutting episodes, April and Jackson made the difficult decision to induce labor and deliver the baby early to save him further pain, naming him Samuel Norbert Avery during his few short hours of life. Afterward, deep in grief, April couldn’t bear to stay in Seattle, and traveled to Jordan for months at a time as a trauma surgeon in the army. The grief combined with the distance and isolation proved too great for the couple’s relationship to bear, and they eventually decided to get divorced. However, the morning that the divorce was finalized, April learned she was pregnant again following a one-time hookup with Jackson several weeks earlier. This baby was born healthy, a girl that the pair decided to name Harriet. Despite their divorce, they committed to co-parenting together as friends, an arrangement they’ve faithfully maintained ever since Two seasons after giving birth to Harriet, April left the show after feeling called to take a leap of faith and quit her job to work full-time as a doctor with the homeless community in Seattle. In her final episode, she spontaneously got married again, this time to Matthew, the same man she’d left at the altar for Jackson several seasons earlier. Since then, although April hadn’t been on the show, she and Jackson kept up their friendly co-parenting arrangement, with Harriet splitting time between both her parents’ houses, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why is Jackson Avery leaving Grey’s Anatomy?
Meanwhile, since April’s departure, Jackson had seemed somewhat unmoored on the show, moving from one romantic relationship to another but never quite clicking with anyone the way he had with April. And while he continued to excel professionally as one of the top plastics surgeons in the country, he still seemed to feel unsettled, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the national protests against racial inequality in the United States. In Jackson’s episodes leading up to “Look Up Child,” it was clear that he was becoming increasingly less content simply living his life as best he could within a broken system, especially as he gained awareness of how other organizations were working to affect change. Everything came to a head in “Look Up Child,” which saw Jackson seeking out his estranged father in order to learn more about the drive he was feeling to make a change. But rather than walk away from his life and responsibilities, as his father had done, Jackson realized that it was time to embrace his legacy and his calling, taking over his family’s multi-million dollar foundation and using it to revamp the entire medical system. In an impassioned speech to his mother (Debbie Allen), he says: He makes this same plea to April, but with a twist: taking over the foundation means moving to Boston, but he doesn’t want to live thousands of miles away from his daughter, so he wants April’s family to go with him. He promises that he will provide her and Matthew with fulfilling jobs, doing the same work they’re currently doing in Seattle, but on an even larger scale. And after a rough night of hashing it out, April agrees…but with a twist of her own.
Are April and Jackson getting back together?
It turns out she doesn’t need to run Jackson’s proposal by Matthew, because she and Matthew have separated. So when she uproots her life in Seattle to follow Jackson to the East coast, it will be as a single woman going to start a new life with her single ex-husband and the father of her child. Does this mean April and Jackson are getting back together? Well, at least not yet, but the door is certainly open. A cross-country move, a fizzled marriage, and a long and dramatic shared history certainly feel like the recipe for rekindled romance. But for right now, it seems that Jackson and April have plenty to focus on without trying to untangle their complicated relationship. However, there’s always hope that we might receive word in the future that Japril does in fact live on, even if it’s off-screen.
How did Grey’s Anatomy say goodbye to Jackson Avery?
During the May 20 episode, Jackson had a very quiet farewell, as far as Grey’s Anatomy exits go. After giving his notice to Chief Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), he made the rounds saying goodbye to his closest friends in person. This included Meredith Grey, who, true to form, declared herself the winner of their residency class since all of the others who started in their year either left or died. Jackson’s last day at the hospital also coincided with Meredith’s–as a patient, at least. After a season-long battle with COVID, she was finally well enough to go home. But when the pair realized they didn’t want to say goodbye in her hospital room, and that Jackson also didn’t want to “clap her out” with the rest of the hospital staff (a tradition they observed for all long-term COVID patients when they were finally discharged), they both decided to go AWOL, with Jackson sneaking her out a back entrance and then driving her home. He also bid an in-person farewell to Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington), with whom he’d been having a casual friends-with-benefits arrangement for the past several months. Jo was supportive and even complimented him for telling her in person rather than sending her a letter–a pointed dig against her ex-husband, Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), who served her surprise divorce papers via the U.S. Postal Service. The episode ended with Jackson driving away from the hospital for the last time, a smile on his face as he thought back over his experiences of the past 12 years. In flashbacks, we saw Jackson’s memories of numerous characters who are now long departed, including Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Alex Karev, Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), and of course, April Kepner. We also saw clips of some of Jackson’s most memorable moments, such as when he helped save Derek Shepherd’s (Patrick Dempsey) life, when he first held his daughter, when he saved a child from a burning bus and when he came up with the name for the hospital. In a voiceover, as Jackson’s memories play, Meredith says, “Traditions have never really been my thing. But at their best, they help us remember who we are, where we’re from and those who came before us. They give us something to pass on to future generations. Because if you don’t know where you’re from, it’s kind of hard to know where you’re going. Unless, of course, where you’re going is home.” With Jackson headed to Boston with his “person” and their child, finally embracing the family name and legacy he’s resisted for so long and choosing to use that power to flip the script that has kept people marginalized and oppressed for so long, it feels safe to say that although he’ll be in a new place, Jackson has finally found his home. And hopefully, in going with him, Tom Koracick will find his, too.
But why did Jesse Williams want to leave Grey’s Anatomy?
As for Williams, Jackson’s awakening passion for change still has a ways to go before he catches up to how the actor has long been using his own voice. Williams has long been an outspoken advocate for racial and social justice, using his voice and his resources to advance causes of diversity and equity. In addition to using his social media to speak out on racial justice, Williams was a senior producer and correspondent on America Divided and executive produced Random Acts of Violence, The Burial of Kojo and the documentaries Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement, With Drawn Arms, and Survivors Guide to Prison. In a statement to Deadline regarding his departure from Grey’s Anatomy, Williams said, “I will forever be grateful for the boundless opportunities provided me by Shonda [Rhimes], the network, studio, fellow castmates, our incredible crew, Krista, Ellen [Pompeo] and Debbie. As an actor, director and person, I have been obscenely lucky to learn so much from so many and I thank our beautiful fans, who breathe so much energy and appreciation into our shared worlds. The experience and endurance born of creating nearly 300 hours of leading global television is a gift I’ll carry always. I am immensely proud of our work, our impact and to be moving forward with so many tools, opportunities, allies and dear friends.” Williams’ departure will mark the second main cast member exit for Season 17, following Andrew DeLuca’s (Giacomo Gianniotti) shocking death in the mid-season premiere. However, if there’s anything this season has taught us, it’s that as long as Grey’s Anatomy is on the air, there’s always hope that goodbye is not forever. Is Grey’s Anatomy ending this season? Find out what the showrunner had to say about the possible upcoming Grey’s series finale.
