Grey’s Anatomy producers and Sarah Drew were not initially on the same page about what qualified as a happy ending for her former alter ego. The actress — who was let go by the ABC drama last spring, with her final episode airing in May’s season finale — revealed to THR that she was initially shocked that showrunner Krista Vernoff decided to reunite April with ex-love Matthew (Justin Bruening) instead of baby-daddy Jackson (Jesse Williams).
“I was devastated that Jackson and April [weren’t the] endgame,” Drew told the site. “I thought Jackson and April were meant to get back together and they were going to get married again and realize they’d been crazy and it was just going to be this long, slow burn.”
However, upon further reflection, the former Everwood actress acknowledged that Matthew and April’s spiritual-tinged swan song had “a real sweetness to” it, adding that “there was something beautiful about the redemption story… She hurt him worse than anybody had ever hurt him by walking away from him [at their wedding]. For there to be reconciliation from that scenario? That’s… really beautiful.”
Drew also revealed the explanation Vernoff gave her about the decision to cut both her and co-star Jessica Capshaw. “I was told that the show had too many characters and that they needed to downsize because they couldn’t service all of the characters effectively,” she explained. “They didn’t want any of us to be left in the background and not getting much of a story.
“Krista said that she felt like April had been through so much and had come out the other side and that she didn’t know what she could put her through again,” Drew continued. “It was really hard to hear that. But Krista had a lot of very complimentary things to say about the work that I had done — especially this past season — and that April was going to have her happy ending.”
