By Michaela Gordoni
Sarah Drew never imagined that her two-episode stint in PRIVATE PRACTICE would turn into a long-term, faith-based role on GREY’S ANATOMY.
Drew played Dr. April Kepner on GREY’S ANATOMY from 2009 to 2018.
“People did not enjoy April Kepner. The character was not loved,” the actress recalled of her character’s beginning on the “Jesus Calling” podcast.
“And so then it became this journey of, who is this person? How do we grow her? How do we shape her? Who is she gonna become?”
The writers chose to portray Kepner as a Christian after she went through a lot of trauma.
Related: Sarah Drew Shares These Traits With Her MISTLETOE MURDERS Character
“…And then she loses her faith — the ultimate agony, which I think is a bigger agony than any of those things, is a loss of your central North Star,” Drew said. “If I don’t have the thing that rooted me and anchored me to the whole purpose of my life, if that somehow comes undone and is shaking under my feet, then what am I doing here? How do you keep breathing when you are so shaken to your core?”
Drew grew up as a pastor’s kid and kept the faith her whole life. One of the writers came to her for input on how to develop Kepner’s character. They wanted to know how someone would come back to the faith after losing it.
She told her, “I think it’s important for a believer to know that nobody promises that we will have a pain-free life when we say yes. In fact, what we’re guaranteed is that there’s going to be suffering. But what we’re also guaranteed is that we won’t ever be alone walking through it because we have God in human form who did it for us and with us.”
“And so we have a person with the ultimate empathy that is walking those steps with us. I think I would need to hear that—that God is not indifferent to your pain,” she said. “I remember being in that room and the writers being like, ‘That’s beautiful, that’s lovely. Let’s do more of that.’”
Screenwriter Shonda Rhimes opened the door for Drew to offer input on her character for the rest of her portrayal.
“I had the tremendous privilege of getting to shape her in a lot of ways, episode by episode, just in tiny ways, and in sometimes, bigger ways,” she explained.
She loves how Kepner’s story has impacted fans.
“There were things that gave so many people so much hope, and still do…How do you find joy even in the midst of pain? I think April’s journey has a lot of that interwoven experience that people resonate with — and I certainly resonate with,” she told Shondaland.
Drew told LA Parent last year, “It was a joy to take her journey, and I’m grateful every day that I had those nine years to tell her story.”
Drew appeared in her newest project, THE STARS BETWEEN US, on Hallmark on Saturday. The romance movie stars her and Matt Long and is available to stream on Hallmark+.
Read Next: GREY’S ANATOMY Star Sarah Drew Sings Song That ‘Feels Like a Prayer’
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