04-04-2025
‘Grey's Anatomy' Star Kim Raver On Directing Big Teddy-Cass Scene
Sophia Bush and Kim Raver in the "Grey's Anatomy" episode "Don't You (Forget About Me)."
Grey's Anatomy featured a big character development for Kim Raver and Sophia Bush's characters Dr. Teddy Altman and Dr. Cass Beckman on Thursday night and Raver is thrilled that she was able to take on roles in front of and behind the camera to direct it.
The episode, titled Don't You (Forget About Me) gave the acclaimed actor her second opportunity to step behind the camera for creator Shonda Rhimes' classic ABC medical drama after she was at the helm of episode Training Day in Season 19 in 2023.
Note: Spoilers from Don't You (Forget About Me) are discussed throughout the rest of the article.
Among the major developments in Thursday night's episode of Grey's Anatomy is Teddy acting on mutual feeling for Cass after the two kiss in the March 20 episode I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
While Cass is in an open marriage, Teddy's marriage to Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) is on the rocks, which factors into why the chief of surgery at the Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital decides to tell Cass that she's figured out that she wants to take a shot at a romantic relationship after the two cross paths at a medical conference in Oakland.
'It's a very interesting topic that we are breaching with open marriage. It's something that people are going to argue about that is conflicting for many people,' Ravers said in a Zoom conversation on Wednesday.
'People have fans and people are going to have a lot of emotions and reactions towards it one way or another, but that's what Grey's Anatomy does," Raver added. "It brings in topics to have conversations about and those arguments of who's right and who's wrong and who's ruining your relationship or not ruining your relationship, or expanding on a relationship that's right for one person that isn't right for another person.'
Raver said when Grey's Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis brought the idea for the episode to her and McKidd, both of them took the major development in the story of their flailing marriage very seriously and approached it with the utmost care.
'Meg did an incredible job when the idea [of an open marriage] was first brought to Kevin and I,' Raver recalled. 'We are very protective of our characters' relationship that we've built over so many years between Teddy and Owen. Meg really listened and we discussed what would be the most interesting way and adult way to broach a marriage that is not doing well and what would that mean to our characters and what that would look like.'
Sophia Bush and Kim Raver in the "Grey's Anatomy" episode "Don't You (Forget About Me)."
Teddy and Cass' mutual attraction for each other involves much more than a kiss on Grey's Anatomy on Thursday night, which meant Kim Raver would have a tall order in directing herself and Sophia Bush in a love scene.
While filming a love scene is a daunting task for any actor, the fact that Raver was calling her own shots in Don't You (Forget About Me) made the idea of Teddy's intense scene with Cass much less intimidating.
Kim Raver on the set of the "Grey's Anatomy episode "Don't You (Forget About Me)."
'I felt every single person in our crew wanted the best for me and were so supportive of me,' Raver explained. 'I actually felt much more comfortable in the scene because I knew that I would be the one choosing the shots. Creating the painting of a love scene can sometimes feel very uncomfortable because you don't [what you'll] feel like or what it will look like. [But directing] it allowed me to really try different things and feel comfortable in it.'
While Teddy and Cass' love scene is intense, it comes to an abrupt halt before it goes even further because Teddy has a crisis of conscience.
Teddy thought she had things figured out and she doesn't so she opts to back out of things [with Cass] because of it,' Raver said. 'She realizes that it's not going to fix her marriage and I kind of loved that. I love that you know she's trying to find the path and that [being with Cass] was not the path.'
However, in another major development in Don't You (Forget About Me), Owen's approach to his and Teddy's crumbling marriage takes a different path when he is reunited with an old friend, Nora (Floriana Lima). The episode ends with Owen in bed with Nora — and Raver knows it's going to spark a big reaction with the Grey's Anatomy fan base.
'People are going to be throwing their popcorn at the television going, 'What? Are you kidding me?'' Raver said with a smile.
While Raver's Grey's Anatomy episode Don't You (Forget About Me) aired on ABC Thursday night, it is now available to stream on Hulu.
