Jesse Williams Is Among 3 Former Grey’s Anatomy Stars Returning In Season 19

Just days before Kate Walsh scrubbed back in as Addison Montgomery for the third episode of Grey’s Anatomy Season 19, fans got an extra dose of excitement. Also scheduled to walk back through Grey Sloan’s revolving doors in November: Jesse Williams as Jackson Avery and Greg Germann as Tom Koracick. Even better, you won’t have to wait for long — both characters are slated to return as guest stars in Season 19’s Episode 5, airing on Nov. 3, according to Deadline and TVLine.

Jackson and Koracick won’t technically be walking into Grey Sloan though. Titled “When I Get to the Border,” the episode follows Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) on a trip to Boston, aka where Jackson moved with April (Sarah Drew) to take over his family’s foundation. Though Japril fans finally got confirmation that they rekindled their romance in the Grey’s Season 18 finale, Drew, sadly, will not appear in the episode.

The silver lining? First, Debbie Allen will reprise her recurring role as Jackson’s mother, Catherine Fox, in the episode. And you know Addison wasn’t going to stay away for long: Walsh will be back again for that episode, too. According to Deadline’s description, she and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) take a road trip to volunteer at a family planning center, but a patient’s ectopic pregnancy leads to complications.

Williams, who will also direct the Nov. 3 episode, recently revealed to E! News that he’d “spent some time” with the new Grey’s interns, something that naturally made him feel nostalgic for his own early days on the ABC medical drama. “It reminded me of when I came in in a crop of four residents that had to learn the ropes,” he told the outlet. “They were kinda fumbling and figuring it out — both as actors and as characters, figuring out their role in this big, intimidating space. So it was really great to work with them. They're all talented and offer something different.”

And though there isn’t a Japril spin-off in the works just yet, the actor remains open to the possibility of one. “That would entail an entire rekindling of a romance that has to go and a partnership that has to go beyond the honeymoon phase,” Williams added. “They’re grown now. They got a growing kid, and they have careers, and they’d be in a new city. Boston’s a tricky place. There’d be plenty of entry points for those characters and others from the show.”

Drew, for her part, previously told People in May that she and Williams have talked “at length” about a potential Boston-based Grey’s spin-off. Though a Japril series is “only living in the fandom right now,” she teased, “Jesse and I obviously love working together, and we have a really tremendous partnership, so I wouldn’t discount that as a possibility.”

Fingers crossed for new horizons.