Don't get your hopes up (or down) for a full Jo/Jackson romance just yet.
Grey's Anatomy star Camilla Luddington was a guest on Tuesday's episode of the iHeartRadio podcast Scrubbing In with Becca Tilley and Tanya Rad and naturally, she had a lot to say about her character's latest romantic decisions.
After being left by her husband (Justin Chambers), Jo (Luddington) was in need of a "sex bridge" to help her get herself back out there. She chose Jackson (Jesse Williams), and after a rough start, they did end up sleeping together. While Luddington says she doesn't know where the storyline is headed, she's been hoping for something fun to do with Williams for a while.
"Jesse and I have a lot of fun together. We have always pitched like, please put some scenes together, please make them funny scenes, like we'd love to like joke around together. And then these ended up happening," she said. "I had no idea until Krista Vernoff, our showrunner, said to us, 'Oh, I'm gonna put you guys together for this like really fun hook up,' and then I didn't know where it was going. I still don't really know where it's going to be honest."
Luddington said she never imagined that Jo and Jackson would be single at the same time, since Jackson was with April (Sarah Drew) and then Jo was married to Alex. This hook-up is more about Jo living the single life than actually trying to start a relationship with anybody.
"I also love that she's single because I was, I was like thinking about going into the season for the first time, with this character being single and I was trying to remember a period of time where she really was single, and she really hasn't been she was like, not with Alex but still in love with him. So this is the first time that she's like, 'I need sex, who's up?'"
For now, she describes Jo and Jackson as "sex friends," and maybe Grey's Anatomy's first sex friends since Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Mark (Eric Dane) were sleeping together way back when.
"I was joking with Jesse because I was like, I feel like a lot of girls in the past with Jackson Avery are like, 'Please love me, you're Jackson Avery.'" Luddington said. "And I love that Jo was like, 'No thank you, like, not happening. Please can we just have sex?' I like that. I think it's really fun."
While kissing on screen has become more complicated in a pandemic, Luddington hasn't actually had to experience that yet. She revealed that the Jo and Jackson storyline was planned and partially shot before production shut down in March, and all that kissing is old footage filmed before the pandemic took hold, cut together with new footage.
"Like the dialogue beforehand was [filmed] this season because things are different," she said. "The storylines are completely different actually as to how we come about to this point, but the kissing was pre-COVID."
As Luddington prepares to find out what kissing on TV during a pandemic is like, keep up with all the current couples/sex friends in the Grey's Anatomy world below!
Status: Split
Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) aren't together right now, but that doesn't mean they don't clearly, obviously still love each other. Mer jumped into action when DeLuca was having an actual mental breakdown and he's been by her side at every opportunity while she's been sick with COVID-19. Our MerLuca loving hearts are still holding on tight!
Status: Married
Ben (Jason George) might be on a different show, the spinoff Station 19, but not only are these two still happily together, and even weathered a devastating miscarriage together before adopting a teenage patient.
Status: Divorced
All we have to say is "Welp."
Alex (Justin Chambers) and Jo (Camilla Luddington) were happily married for a time and even made it through Jo's breakdown over learning she was the product of rape, despite Jo giving Alex an easy out. Instead of taking it then, he decided to suddenly leave and went back to Izzie (Katherine Heigl) after learning she had two of his kids thanks to the eggs they had fertilized back when she had cancer. So now Jo is single and hopefully ready to find someone even better to spend her life with, or at least to have a lot of sex with.
Status: Hooking up
Jo needed some sex after being left by her husband, so she went for her hottest, most single coworker Jackson (Jesse Williams). Currently they appear to just be sex friends, but anything could happen.
Status: Together
Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Link (Chris Carmack) hooked up at a conference once and now they've got a baby together! They're also absolutely in the running for cutest couple currently on the show.
Status: Un-engaged
What do we even say about these two? Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy (Kim Raver) were happy and they had a baby together and they were definitely going to get married, but then Teddy got all in her head about Amelia thinking her baby could be Owen's (a storyline we have yet to forgive the Grey's writers for) and cheated on Owen with Tom Koracick (Greg Germann). Owen now knows about the cheating thanks to a very NSFW voicemail and he has not yet forgiven his former fiancee. We don't blame him, honestly.
Status: Sleeping together?
Oh what a mess. Teddy and Tom kept on sleeping together and Owen found out on his and Teddy's wedding day. Tom is still very much in love with Teddy but now he's also very sick with coronavirus and things aren't looking good for him or for his relationship with Teddy.
Status: Married
Richard (James Pickens Jr.) and Catherine (Debbie Allen)'s marriage fell fully apart last season. She was by his side when he got sick and he even hallucinated the two of them rekindling things, but then rejected her when the hallucinations wore off. Finally, they got their s--t together in season 17 and are once again happy.
Status: Split
Nico (Alex Landi) and Schmitt (Jake Borelli) had their ups and downs, and currently they're in a real down. Nico thought Schmitt needed more than he could give, but they still can't seem to stay away from each other.
Status: Dating
Maggie (Kelly McCreary) reunited with her old colleague Dr. Winston (Anthony Hill) at a medical conference last season, and the two really, really hit it off, spending a magical couple of days together before having to part due to a medical emergency. Now they're long-distance dating, which means lots of Zoom calls and the occasional gift delivery.
Status: Married but separated
Andy (Jaina Lee Ortiz) and Robert (Boris Kodjoe) quickly and suddenly got married in season three before Andy's dad died, but they weren't prepared for what comes next. Robert is thinking his wife will be there to support him through surgery recovery and his painkiller addiction, while she just learned (Spoiler Alert!) that her mom is secretly still alive. They decided to separate temporarily so they could each work through their issues, but as far as separations go, it seems to be a fairly loving one.
Status: Together
Carina (Stefania Spampinato) was ready to say goodbye to Maya (Danielle Savre), but in the season three finale of Station 19, Maya professed her love. Now, Carina and Maya have moved in together and seem happy as can be, even if Maya's freaking out just a little.
Status: Split
Jackson moved on fairly quickly from Maggie with Vic (Barrett Doss), but that relationship now appears to be over too. Vic sorta kinda moved into Jackson's apartment without really telling him, and it turns out he didn't like that, even though she was basically homeless at the time. Then she panicked over being a stepmother and now he's sleeping with Jo.
Status: Split
Travis (Jay Hayden) actually took a step in the most mature direction by breaking things off with Emmett (Lachlan Buchanan), since Emmett is newly out and Travis also just doesn't love him. Hopefully Travis is on the path to happiness and a real relationship!
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.