Chandra Wilson Reflects on Grey's Anatomy Season Finale, Ponders Future

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Chandra Wilson is a perennial Emmy Award nominee for her role as Dr. Miranda Bailey on Grey's Anatomy, and anyone who's watched the show can appreciate why.

In a new interview with EW, the actress reflects on the season that was (including the chilling, gut-wrenching finale) and the Grey's Anatomy season(s) to come.

Q: How did you prepare for the freak-out scene [in the finale]?

Chandra Wilson: My goodness. It was one of those things where the situation was so incredibly sad, pounding on things, lashing out - all of that goes against my personality.

Just being in that position - the richness of where the characters were - was all I needed.

Q: Did it leave you emotionally drained?

Doctor Bailey Photo

Chandra Wilson: Actually I was really energized after that. I just felt like everything was in the right place. We were doing exactly what we needed to be doing at that point in time. Everything led up to that - and then there was still work to do afterwards.

When you have that feeling that you’re in the right place it gives you energy as an actor. It would have been more draining if I had been pulling from something personal, from my own childhood. But because it was what was happening in the show it made it okay.

Q: How do you think this experience will change Bailey?

Chandra Wilson: I was asking that same question: “Where does she go?” I think that George’s death last year stunned her in a way that she had to decide to keep functioning and try not to get emotional or emotionally involved with her co-workers.

But for me, the image that never went away was that the barrel of the gun was in her face.

Normally if there’s blood and someone is shot you go into doctor-mode. But she could never get the image of that gun out of her head long enough to do her Dr. Bailey thing.

It’ll be interesting to see if that kind of fear still lives with her.

Q: Shonda Rhimes originally planned to have Bailey get shot, but she couldn’t go through with it.

Chandra Wilson: I heard about that after the fact and I was like, “Wow.” [Laughs] I don’t know what that would’ve been like to get hurt - for Bailey or for me personally. Because just looking at the barrel of the gun was too much for me.

Q: Your onscreen love interest, Jason George, is starring in Rhimes’ new medical drama Off the Map, which probably means no happy ending for Bailey and Ben.

Chandra Wilson: I honestly don’t know what that means. I don’t know what’s going to happen to that relationship. There could be a happy ending we don’t know anything about. [Map] is a midseason show, so there will be [time] for him to [work on Grey's].

First Kiss Alert!

Q: Was it fun to play a flirtatious, sexual Bailey?

Chandra Wilson: It was certainly out of Bailey’s comfort zone. And for me as an actor it was scary to step outside of what you’re used to and try something new.

Q: What are you doing over your hiatus?

Chandra Wilson: I’m actually having a hiatus. [Laughs] I forget to do that sometimes. So this year I said I wasn’t going to worry about whether they ask me back next season. I’m just going to sit down and take a break. I’m going to be a mom and go to a PTA meeting.

Q: Did you receive your official pickup letter from ABC?

Chandra Wilson: I did. Last week. I was like, “That took long enough!” [Laughs]

Q: Did you really have anxiety about that?

Chandra Wilson: It’s not even anxiety. It’s just the reality of what we do. I never get so uncomfortable that I ever forget that. What we do as actors is really about decisions that get made in rooms with desks. And people change their minds all the time about things.

Or get brilliant ideas like, “Hey, I think Bailey should die this year! It’ll be a 10-episode arc and everybody will cry!” [Laughs] You have absolutely no control over that as an actor. So you have to make the most of it and you learn as much as you can.

Q: We hear so much about actors wanting to leave Grey’s Anatomy. It’s refreshing to hear from someone who actually wants to stay.

Chandra Wilson: I don’t understand it at all. [Laughs] It’s a little cliché to say this, but a job like this is difficult to come by.

There’s always something else to learn.

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.

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Grey's Anatomy Quotes

[walking by Izzie's room]
Meredith: Hot.
Sadie: Horny.

Sexual sorbet? Hahaha! I love it.

Bailey