GREY’S ANATOMY: Kim Raver on Teddy’s Journey and How Being a Part of Shondaland Has Creatively Inspired Her

When Teddy (Kim Raver) returned full-time to GREY’S ANATOMY at the start of season 15, the pregnancy she was hiding could have led to stereotypical drama—especially since her longtime friend/baby’s father, Owen (Kevin McKidd), was very deeply entrenched with his off-on partner, Amelia (Caterina Scorsone).

But rather than exploring a stereotypical love triangle or pit the women against each other, the show allowed Teddy to exist and thrive with no backstabbing drama. Raver acknowledges the dynamic was “definitely complicated,” but the women behaving maturely, and respectfully, was an important fact for all involved. “[Showrunner] Krista [Vernoff] and I talked about it, and Caterina and I talked about it,” she recalls. “I think we really care about each other as actors, and we wanted to make sure everything was okay. I feel Krista and her writers have done an amazing job at that.”

Owen and Amelia appear to be done for good now—but it was about them and their lingering issues. (Teddy, for her part, was off on a babymoon with her new boyfriend, Tom (Greg Germann), and has yet to discover the official breakup.)

Whether Teddy and Owen ever officially get together romantically—beyond their brief overseas tryst last season—the decade-long on-screen will they/won’t they has been a unique situation for Raver. “Because the show has been running that long, when in the history of my acting career do you have the history in real-life years, and also the years you’re playing it to be?” she says. “The advantage it gives is Kevin and I have such a respect and there’s such a comfort there. I feel like our scenes play in such a beautiful way because there’s such a trust there. To have that advantage of working together for so many years, it’s a real gift to be able to go to work and have that.”

Raver has only been a series regular a handful of seasons during her stint on the medical drama, but she remains thankful it’s a touchstone in her career. “It’s incredible, because it’s also one of my favorite places to be,” she says. “To be there as a regular and then to go to London and reconnect with Kiefer [Sutherland] to do 24. To go and direct. It’s such a great thing in terms of broadening [horizons] for me, and letting me be a diverse creative person. And that comes from being a part of Shondaland.”

“I don’t know if I necessarily would have directed if I hadn’t seen [Shonda Rhimes] have the climate of having so many women [do it on her shows],” she continues. (Raver directed the upcoming Lifetime film TEMPTING FATE.) “When you see it, you go, ‘Oh, I recognize that; maybe I could do that.’ For me, coming back to GREY’S is like coming home.” (The series hasn’t officially been renewed for season 16 yet, but Raver says she would “love” to continue on.)

Up ahead is one of the biggest shifts for Teddy yet: motherhood. “I think Teddy hasn’t even really thought of [how it will change her] yet; it’s going to have to change her,” Raver previews. “I don’t know yet in which way. She’ll have to figure things out. That will be a fun thing for us to explore.”

GREY’S ANATOMY, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC

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