"Grey's Anatomy" season 12 cast member Martin Henderson recently opened up about his reaction when he found out that his character Nathan Riggs would be paired with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo).
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the actor said that he somewhat felt that being paired with a female character was inevitable. However, because it was taking so long for the producers to reveal this storyline, he thought that he would have to wait for another season.
Henderson said that while reading the script for episode 23, he initially thought that he would be partnered with Maggie (Kelly McCreary).
"I did not see that ending coming at all. It shocked me when I realized. I'm hoping the audience has a similar reaction, because it does come out of left field, which is fun. The way they get together, it's this very reactive, passionate thing. No one has really thought it through. It's certainly not very romantic. It's more of a magnetic animal thing that they've acted on, the consequences of which remain to be seen," he said.
Meanwhile, Pompeo also dished on what would happen to Meredith following her hookup with Nathan.
"She can find happiness. She'll never have another great love. What scared her with Will Thorpe is she had a great experience with him. She really liked him, she thought she was falling for him, she slept with him, and it wasn't terrible, it was great. That scared her and made her feel incredibly guilty. She didn't think that she was ever going to be able to enjoy another man again. So then when she did, she completely had a panic attack and freaked out," she explained.
Pompeo added that this time around, Meredith will hook up with some male characters who are much safer than Will. What she meant by this is her character will sleep around with people who she wouldn't be encouraged to get into a relationship with.
"Riggs is super safe because everybody hates him," she said.
"Grey's Anatomy" season 12, episode 24 will feature a time jump. This will also serve as the season ender.
"Grey's Anatomy" season 12, episode 24 will air on ABC on May 19 at 8 p.m. ET.