Former 'Grey's Anatomy' stars Jesse Williams and Sarah Drew still believe fans of Jackson and April have 'earned' and 'deserve' a spinoff © Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images; Richard Cartwright/ABC; Alyssa Powell/Insider Old 'Grayness's Anatomy' stars Jesse Williams and Sarah Drew still believe fans of Jackson and Apr have 'earned' and 'deserve' a spinoff

Sarah Drew and Jesse Williams detail how they helped shape their characters' dearest story on "Gray'southward Anatomy."

Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and Apr Kepner (Sarah Drew) entered "Grayness'due south Anatomy" equally literal invaders on season six when Seattle Grace merged with Mercy West Hospital. Past flavour x, episode 12'due south "Get Up, Stand Up," when Jackson whisked April, his former all-time friend with benefits, away from her meticulously planned wedding to paramedic Matthew (Justin Bruening) and then he and April could marry in Nevada, "Japril" was a fan-favorite pairing.

They're besides the only couple on the evidence so far to take a trilogy of episodes centered on their journey. The beginning installment, flavour 12's 11th episode, "Unbreak My Eye," and fondly referred to past fans as "Japril the Movie," aired on February 25, 2016. It's a dramatic rewind of their human relationship, from the moment they run into to sign divorce papers to the aftermath of April's deployment overseas to the death of their son Samuel to their wedding day. The flashbacks end on the day they met at Mercy West.

At the finish of the hour, we acquire that though the couple is divorced, Apr is pregnant again. "Unbreak My Eye" is a beginning of sorts for Jackson and April (affectionately known equally "Japril"). Fans got some answers they'd been waiting on for years (like what Japril'south hymeneals actually looked like). They were also given hope for a future that never came.

© Eric McCandless/Walt Disney Boob tube

When Insider spoke to Drew and Williams during a joint interview in December, their passion for their characters was still clear, even though they exited "Grey's Anatomy" in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

It's enough passion to fuel a Netflix miniseries, if "Grey'southward Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes, ABC, or Disney were so inclined. A Japril spinoff isn't publicly in the works at the time of this writing, but the costars certainly fabricated a case for i during the chat, whether they meant to or not.

"There'southward 'Grayness's Beefcake' scenes and in that location'due south Japril scenes," Williams said, explaining how he feels his and Drew's scenes stood apart from the show. "Our stuff was its own tunnel."

Drew, Williams, and "Grey's Anatomy" fans on social media have made articulate that they'd enter said tunnel again if given the opportunity. Just what would we find one time inside?

Japril's love has lived in the margins of 'Grey'due south Beefcake' scripts for a long fourth dimension

© Richard Cartwright/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

The costars, who would eventually become husband and wife onscreen, made their respective "Grey's Beefcake" debuts together on season six, episode five, "Invasion." Their characters don't exactly notice each other in a romantic or sexual way until well-nigh two.5 seasons subsequently that.

Merely if you pay close attention to their glances at each other on the edges of scenes, or the look on April'south face equally she smacks Jackson in the head for staring at one of Alex's (Justin Chambers) 1-night stands, or Jackson's bad-mannered pat of April's knee when she's melting down about the medical boards hours before their random, drunken kickoff hookup — information technology's e'er evident that they care deeply about each other.

While almost TV couples come up together because of dialogue written on the page, Japril'south beginning is in the margins. And from the 2nd the "Greyness's Anatomy" writers decided to requite Jackson and Apr a shot, Williams and Drew told Insider the two of them were fully committed to the story — possibly even a trivial also much.

"I remember you showed upwards with a whole marked-up script with script ideas," Drew laughed, recalling Williams' eagerness to get their first intimate scenes together during the medical boards on season eight right.

He conceded that his ideas didn't get over well at the time. "I got in trouble for that," he said.

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After an agonizing "volition they or won't they" plot that lasted a few years, Japril got married — but that doesn't mean they got to be happy. It's "Grey'due south Anatomy" afterward all.

Their love was genuine only their choice to get married was impulsive. So their newlywed phase was marred with fights where Telly couples are ordinarily immune a flake of romance. Drew said that she and Williams worked hard to attempt and fill in gaps for the audition, some of which never came to fruition.

"We had a whole pitch for an entire series based on that road trip," Drew said of the few scenes nosotros meet of Japril traveling together to become married afterwards April runs away from her wedding to Matthew. Williams confirmed that their series pitch is why "Unbreak My Center" exists.

Soon after their wedding, a surprise pregnancy ended with an consecration termination and their son, Samuel, died of a fatal type of osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone illness, a genetic bone disorder that is present at nativity.

Later Samuel's death on flavor 11, Jackson and April let grief tear them apart in strange ways instead of helping each other through the pain. Apr enlists in the army to run abroad from her problems and Jackson never forgives his wife for abandoning him at a time when he needed her virtually.

While Jackson and April somewhen divorced, fans held out hope that it could have just been the starting time of a powerful reconciliation story virtually grief, forgiveness, and dear. Unfortunately, that'due south not what they got.

Williams told Insider he and Drew 'carved' much of Japril's story, and particularly its 'Grayness's Anatomy' ending, 'on our own'

© ABC/Richard Cartwright

Drew was asked to leave the striking medical drama at the end of flavor 14 in 2018 for "creative reasons" that showrunner Krista Vernoff did non specify in a 2018 statement to Deadline. For much of the two seasons prior to Drew'due south leave, many fans remained convinced that Jackson and April were on the verge of an eventual reconciliation, which fabricated Drew'south unexpected divergence all the more frustrating.

Some of that unresolved romantic tension, whether written on the folio or non, may have been because the costars worked difficult to portray the natural emotion in Japril'south complicated relationship no matter what, even when producers on the bear witness may take wanted them to downplay information technology.

Drew recalled that she was asked to play April telling Jackson she wanted to move out of the apartment they shared to raise their daughter together in flavor 14 "with no emotion." She said she was grateful when Kevin McKidd, the director of that episode and her former costar, immune her to practise a have of the scene that was less cold.

Drew'due south interpretation of the scene is what made the final cutting of the episode.

"Your trunk, when you're in pain, when you're acting in pain, if y'all're doing information technology authentically, you're in pain," Williams said, explaining why Japril's history mattered so much to him and Drew.

"And we have all of those memories, our trunk holds that, and so nosotros're trying to honor that in the whole journeying. So sometimes people need to be updated and reminded of that," he connected.

Williams left the show himself three seasons after, in 2021, and Drew returned so that the cease of Jackson'due south journey on the evidence would make sense.

© Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

"That relationship — both but betwixt the two of us as humans, merely also the Japril relationship — is and so meaningful to both of us," Drew previously said of her decision to reprise her role equally Apr at a roundtable interview attended by Insider in May 2021. "It felt like the perfect future back and exercise a special episode to be able to help Jackson brand his big divergence."

In an email statement provided to Insider in February, Drew explained that fifty-fifty on Williams' final episodes, the costars worked to craft a Japril ending that would be "satisfying" for them and for Japril fans.

"The pitch that was given to me was Apr was super pregnant with Matthew'south infant and Matthew wasn't home when Jackson came to the business firm to pitch April on the idea of going to Boston with him," Drew wrote of the original plot for April'southward render episode. "There was a storm exterior and Jackson had to deliver Apr's baby at the firm, and through this whole feel, April decided to bring her whole family to Boston with Jackson."

A completely unlike story made information technology onscreen on season 17'south 14th episode, "Look Up, Child." Jackson shows up at April'south business firm in the centre of a storm to ask her to motility with their daughter to Boston — but she'due south not significant. We learn at the end of the episode that Matthew and April are getting a divorce. And so, the exes, now both single, move to Boston with their girl and hope for a future together.

"Jesse and I talked about information technology and idea it would exist more than satisfying to the audition if they were left with some hope for Japril reuniting," Drew wrote to Insider. "Jesse pitched that to the writers and the writers agreed — and and then the story shifted."

Japril fans have 'earned' and 'deserve' a spinoff, Williams said

© Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Williams told Insider in December that "Grey's Beefcake" was "really lucky to have united states of america" while reflecting on the work he did with Drew. "Nosotros carved a lot of that on our own with tremendous back up, but information technology was not like it had to be that manner. Nosotros could have been lazier about it," he said.

Both actors have said in individual interviews that they would reprise their roles for a spinoff, should the opportunity arise.

At the aforementioned roundtable interview in May, Drew said Jackson and Apr "could change the globe of medicine" together while living in Boston. They've moved there so that Jackson can lead his family unit's medical foundation with the goal of eliminating disparities in medical care for minorities.

Williams told Insider's Caralynn Lippo on the red carpet of the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2021 that a Japril spinoff in Boston "makes total sense" and that he and Drew "would kill it" if given the chance.

The actors accept a very clear idea about what Japril'south life in Boston raising their daughter, Harriet, would look like.

They said they're definitely working together to make change for underserved communities, considering Jackson "has tons of money to give away," co-ordinate to Drew, and Apr is "providing medical assistance to people that tin can't pay for it." It's a perfect professional match on paper.

As far as rekindling a romance, Williams thinks they're at least on the route to making information technology happen.

"They seem to be and then grounded, and calm, and there's nothing really left to fight about," he told Insider in December, adding that the couple knows they "love each other" and are "going to figure something out."

They even know Japril'south living arrangements. "I remember that they probably moved in that location with dissever apartments and she's e'er at my place," said Williams.

"His is fashion nicer. He just has more money," Drew joked, to which Williams responded, "Plainly. She's poor."

© Vincent Sandoval/Getty Images Drew and Williams' natural banter enhances their articulate adoration for each other, which is evident on any screen they share, in character or not.

Williams said that Japril's reconciliation would take to occur in a way that was "not rushed," since "the only other trap that'due south left is trying to recoup for lost time."

A spinoff would be the perfect mode to make up for that lost fourth dimension and provide Drew, Williams, and Japril fans with a nuanced redemption story that makes sense. Simply Drew admitted that they "don't know" how fans can assist make one happen.

In May 2021, Craig Erwich, the president of ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, told Deadline that he was "open" to "Grayness's Anatomy" spinoff ideas. "Nosotros are always open to whatever iteration that will serve the prove and the fans," he said. It was later clarified in a statement for Deadline by ABC Signature's president, Jonnie Davis, that no spinoffs of the medical striking were being considered at the time.

As for a potential Japril spinoff in Boston, Williams said: "If information technology'south a matter of fan dearest, we would already exist in episode eight of it correct now." He said he knows fans love the characters and "if there's such a affair that'south deserving information technology, they deserve it and nosotros've earned information technology and it would exist dope."

"Just all they can do is keep plugging away and screaming about it," Williams added.

Drew's Lifetime moving picture "Stolen past Their Begetter" premieres on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.

Williams makes his Broadway debut in "Have Me Out" at the Hayes Theater in New York Metropolis beginning Thursday, March 10.