Sheri Block, etalk.ca
April 28, 2016
With the loss of their baby, a divorce, another pregnancy and lawsuits filed from both sides, April and Jackson have had more than their fair share of drama. But actress Sarah Drew hints there’s still more to come.
“There’s extreme drama that happens with April and Jackson in the finale. I can also tell you April gets to be incredibly badass and strong and 2.0 all over the place so that’s been fun. We haven’t shot that stuff yet, we’ve shot some of it but it’s an incredible ride.”
While Drew can’t say exactly what's going to go down in the Season 12 finale, airing May 19 on CTV, she can say April and Jackson have reached a turning point.
Even though Jackson is suing April for fraud and she filed a restraining order against him, Jackson reminded April in a recent episode they were best friends who really loved each other. It prompted April to let Jackson feel the baby kick and invited him to come to the ultrasound.
Drew says she is definitely rooting for “Japril.”
“Oh always. I love them together. They’ve been through such an epic story and they’ve weathered so many extreme things that it just feels like it would be such a waste if they didn’t wind up together, if there wasn’t some beautiful reunion and reconciliation. You want to make all that pain worth it. But sometimes that’s not how life works.”
Drew says all of the intense, dramatic events April has experienced over the past two seasons have been both challenging and rewarding for her as an actor.
“It’s really forced me, challenged me to dig deep as an actor and find some very deep intense places to access so it’s been great. I’m so grateful. I’ve never been bored on this show and I’ve been on this show for seven years and that’s saying a lot I think.”
Drew says it was particularly challenging when April and Jackson’s baby died last year as she was pregnant with her daughter Hannah Mali Rose at the same time. (The actress also has a four-year-old son Micah with husband Peter Lanfer).
“(When) we shot that scene where (April’s) baby died in my arms it took like 10 hours to shoot that scene and then I went home and went into early labour 10 hours later. My daughter came four weeks early and then had to be in the NICU for a couple of weeks and that was pretty profoundly traumatic. But all is well now, she’s doing great and she’s fine.”
While filming those scenes were really intense, Drew adds it did allow her emotions to flow.
“If anything it enabled me to cry a lot easier. I can access depths of like fear and love and sadness, I can access that stuff so much easier now that I’ve had kids.”
“Grey’s Anatomy” airs Thursdays at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.