When Kevin McKidd joined Grey’s Anatomy last season as Owen Hunt, he walked onto a set rife with controversy, unhappy actors and major behind-the-scenes drama.
Yet none of that seems to have affected the star, whom we caught up with in Pasadena, Calif., last August to hear his thoughts on all the Grey’s drama, his dark and twisty character, and Owen’s budding relationship with Cristina (Sandra Oh).
TVGuide.ca: I hope we’re safe in assuming that since we’re having this conversation, the rumours that you were leaving the show were just that — rumours?
Kevin McKidd: Oh, really? Oh wow …
TVG: I guess it was during that brief period where there were so many stories going around – ‘Who’s leaving Grey’s Anatomy?’ I think it was because you had a new project?
KM: I was doing a movie called Percy Jackson, which is a Chris Columbus movie. This is his next franchise movie. It’s about a teenage boy who finds out that his father is Poseidon, the Greek god. He lives in modern-day Manhattan, and finds out the gods live there too. It’s based on a set of books that helps introduce Greek mythology to teenagers.
TVG: It sounds like the show has been pretty accommodating to your film career.
KM: They’ve been great!
TVG: What is it like to be a part of a show that has so much publicity attached to it?
KM: Well, I just like to come in and do my job, put my scrubs on and get it done. I don’t pay attention or read that stuff, so I’m not aware of most of it. I hear some of it and the reality is that when you go to the workplace and work with those actors and the writers, none of that stuff in the media is there. It feels like there are two parallel universes going on.
TVG: Is Owen Hunt going to simmer down a little bit now that he’s in therapy [for post-traumatic stress disorder] and finally saw his mother?
KM: Yeah. I’m hoping — we don’t know yet — that it’s going to be a rough road for him and Cristina still. But he now has taken a big step towards healing himself, and I’d like to see him basically come back to the guy he was in the season première last year, when he was a happy guy and he wasn’t damaged in the way that we’ve seen him.
This season for him will be getting back to that person. So many troops, so many people in the world have suffered from this illness that it’s important to show that you can come out of the other end of it.
TVG: It sounds like you’ve talked to some people who have been through this.
KM: Yeah, yeah, I’ve done a lot of talking. It’s such a relevant topic and issue that I made sure I did my research properly.
TVG: And have you had any response?
KM: I’ve been getting letters, and the writers and staff have been getting letters and emails of thanks, really. Because of the prime-time environment, so many people watch Grey’s Anatomy … and we’re talking about this taboo subject, people kind of brush it under the carpet a lot of the time, so I think it’s really great of the writers to tackle it head-on. There’s been a lot of positive response from communities dealing with it.
TVG: Have you ever personally felt like you were so far gone emotionally from everyone around you?
KM: It wasn’t because of trauma, but I remember when I was a teenager that I kind of severed ties with all the members of my family in the islands and went to the big city to chase the dream. I still regret that … that guilt that I felt. It was probably only for six or seven months that I cut everybody out.
I was 18 or 19 and I needed to grow and become my own person. Then I grew up and realized that must have been pretty awful for my folks. So I tapped into that feeling, but Owen, that’s his only way of managing, to control it and block everyone out – becoming an island.
TVG: It sounds as though you at least get to experiment with some lighter stuff this season.
KM: Yeah, he’s definitely much more joyful. He and Cristina are going to have fun in the sense that the more light he becomes … she’s a complex character. She had a lot of that to one side last season to help Owen move forward. But now all her stuff is going to come out and the shoe’s going to be on the other foot. She’s going to be a lot darker than he thought she was.
TVG: That must be fun, especially having someone like Sandra Oh to bounce off of.
KM: She’s a great actor; I love her to bits. The dynamic between us seems to work pretty well.
TVG: Can you give us any more tidbits on what we can expect this season?
KM: Generally in the hospital, it’s going to be tough for them. There’s a lot of pressure with the economic world right now. We’re in a downturn and some of that is going to come to Seattle Grace. There’s going to be a lot of threat to people’s positions and stuff.
Grey’s Anatomy returns Thursday, Sept. 24, 9 p.m. ET, CTV/ABC.
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