Jaina Lee Ortiz Talks Jack’s Fate, If Romance Is in Cards for Andy in Final Season

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Station 19 Season 7 premiere “This Woman’s Work.”]

Jack’s (Grey Damon) fate remains up in the air in a way at the end of the Station 19 Season 7 premiere. Sure, he’s going to live, but his career? Well…

Amelia (Grey’s Anatomy‘s Caterina Scorsone) is Jack’s doctor, and she’s the one to tell Andy (Jaina Lee Ortiz), who spends the episode seeing her version of him, the bad news. Because of the scarring she sees on his brain, while he might recover with physical therapy, she doesn’t see a world in which any doctor or department will clear him to fight fires again. But when Jack wakes at the end of the episode, his first question for his captain, Andy, is “when’s my next shift?” Uh-oh.

Below, Ortiz teases what’s ahead.

What does Jack’s recovery look like going forward? Is there even a possibility of him working as a firefighter again? It doesn’t sound like it’s possible.

Jaina Lee Ortiz: He’s severely injured to the point where he may not be able to perform the way he used to, and so that will bring up a lot of conflict.

It’s not looking optimistic though.

It’s not optimistic, and in a way, we’ll lose him, but we won’t lose him, if that makes sense.

What’s harder for Andy to deal with—that as his captain or that as his friend?

Oh, both, but more as a friend. I feel like Andy deeply loves and respects Jack, and he was her first love. So to witness him succeed as a firefighter and watch him climb up the ranks and then become injured, not just physically, but emotionally through all of the personal challenges in his life, I feel like it’s double heartbreaking to her. And that’s just another obstacle for Andy because he is one of the most special people in her life.

It’s amazing where Andy and Jack started and where they are now, but do you think that the show could go back to that romance?

Oh, you’re coming on to something. I think we may get to see a full circle moment with Andy and Jack. I’m not saying that I know for sure. I actually don’t know.

Is romance even on Andy’s mind at this point? Because she has to be so focused on being captain.

Right. No, I think her love interest this season is her job, and I feel like it’s not what she expected it to be. Obviously no relationship is perfect. So the fact that she is struggling so much as captain will be telling to how it ends.

There’s also the matter of what’s going on with Natasha (Merle Dandridge) and whether she’ll stay chief, and that has to be something that concerns Andy too. How much is that on Andy’s mind?

I think we’ll get to explore a beautiful Andy and Natasha friendship. I don’t think Andy dreams about becoming chief. I’m not sure if she’s ever even mentioned wanting to become chief or maybe she has—all the episodes and seasons are starting to blend. So I think she has let go of her relationship with Sullivan [Boris Kodjoe] and is now letting things happen.

What else is coming up for Andy? What can you tease?

I think she will do her family, her friends, and her community happy, and I think she’ll get everything she wants because that’s been the dream since the beginning, right? And I think wrapping this up and coming full circle, I feel like if it’s not given to her, then gosh, what a sad story, right? If she doesn’t end with the love of her life, then she’s ending with the career of her life. And that to me is something very beautiful to see on TV.

Is there anything that was on your wishlist for Andy that you are getting to do this season?

Yeah, I think my wishlist has come true. I feel like seeing Andy in her element as captain, as a leader, as the daughter of someone that so many people look up to is something that will make Station 19 forever remembered for sort of this beautiful legacy. And it doesn’t have to stay in the family because while Andy didn’t get to have any children, I feel like the friends that she kept around her became her chosen family, and because of that, it will always stay in the family.

Station 19, Thursdays, 10/9c, ABC