The stars tease sparks between the two doctors in season 18 and if the transplant surgeon is truly 'viable' for Meredith.
Is Meredith Grey ready to get into a serious romance?
Grey's Anatomy brought back Scott Speedman, who played Minnesota transplant surgeon Nick Marsh, as the season 18 surprise, rekindling the possibility of a romance between the two. Ellen Pompeo offered some Easter eggs about what's to come for the potential new couple, as they embark on a spark-filled, flirtatious courtship very reminiscent of their initial encounter in a season 14 episode.
"Scott Speedman is back, love him," Pompeo praised during a recent Zoom interview with ET's Nischelle Turner, adding Meredith is "definitely" flirting around and having fun with Nick.
"She definitely is. I love Scott. Scott and I are friends, and he was on the show a few years back. Him and I had great chemistry. We had a lot of fun together. I think we work in similar ways as actors so we have a great working relationship," the actress said. "We are always sort of work the same way, which, we are always trying to elevate the scenes and find how to make the scenes grounded and real and feel genuine and honest."
Since Derek's death in season 11, Meredith has had her fair share of ups and downs in the romance department. But Pompeo hints that Nick may be the most serious contender of all.
"What? Yes! What are you talking about?" she exclaimed when asked if Nick was a viable option for Meredith, quipping, "He is such a hottie!"
Speedman also spoke with ET about his surprise return to Grey's and revealed that the producers have been trying to get him back on the show since his aforementioned guest appearance. "They'd been trying since I did that episode," he revealed during a recent interview, sharing that it all "came together pretty quick."
"I was a bit naive, thinking I could kind of slide in and do one episode and slide out of there without them asking. But they were very sweet. I really loved doing that episode. I thought it was really fun and I loved working with Ellen, and I thought the writing was really strong. They tried a couple of times and the timing didn't really work out when they were asking and what they were asking. And this just felt right, in terms of a longer season arc kind of thing. All the timing felt really right this time, so I jumped on."
The 46-year-old actor acknowledged that he wasn't too familiar with Grey's but was aware of his presence back on the show causing mixed reactions among longtime fans.
"I did see some of the fan reactions seem to be sort of split either way on who I was and what I was doing there. And there seemed to be some anger towards me being there at all," he observed. "So that was interesting to me. That was kind of funny. I haven't experienced too much of that in my career. The cool part about it, I guess, when you're doing a show that's been on for 17, 18 seasons, obviously you have a very loyal fan base. And in this particular case, loyal and passionate. They're very protective of that character, Meredith's character. So they want the best for her and... it's a thing. So we'll see. I'll win them over."
While Meredith and Nick's flirtmance heats up, Speedman said it's "a fair bet" that they'll rekindle something. But he, like the viewers, doesn't know what the future holds. "We'll figure that out, but I don't really know. Honestly, I don't know too much about anything," he said. "I know I live in Minnesota and she lives in Seattle, so that's going to be something to be figured out. And I'm sure there'll be some twists and turns along the way."
From Speedman's perspective, Nick is 100 percent "a good match" for Meredith, who decided at the end of last week's episode she would travel back and forth from Minnesota and Seattle, as she begins work on her project for a cure to Parkinson's.
"Who's going to say no to that? I think I'm a good fit for that lady, for sure. I think Nick's a good match for her in a lot of different ways," Speedman said. "I think it's cool that he lives in a different place and I think there's some distance there, which makes it nice. But yeah, I think he's a good match."
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. For more, watch below.
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