In the fall of 2020, in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic that mostly shut down the globe, “Grey’s Anatomy” did what any medical show would do and leaned into the real-life crisis as part of its storyline. The weirdest thing it did, though, was stick Meredith in a COVID-related coma for most of its 17th season — which means that, while Meredith and Ellen Pompeo spend time on a “dream beach,” she goes full “Sixth Sense” and sees dead people. That includes T.R. Knight’s George, who gets the privilege of appearing with visions of two living characters (Miranda Bailey and James Pickens Jr.’s Dr. Richard Webber).

In an interview with Deadline, Knight and then-showrunner Krista Vernoff opened up about how George — and Knight — returned to the series after more than a decade. For his part, Knight loved how George, a well-meaning but sometimes bumbling character, was depicted in Meredith’s dream. “What I loved about what Krista did with George was, because Meredith is having this vision, for lack of a better word, of who George would be,” Knight explained. “George is a very complicated person and that’s what made him such an amazing pleasure to play, but Meredith is seeing the best of George: she’s seeing his humor, his kindness, his generosity, and in this brief moment that you get to see him, it’s such a great way to remember him.”

“We all know George also had his faults,” Knight continued. “He stumbled a lot. Literally and metaphorically, he was a little passive-aggressive, had some anger, held a grudge a little too long, but that’s what made him such a brilliant character to play, so to be able to get back into that world was … Like I said, there’s a better word than profound, and I’ll get there someday.”

So, would Knight ever come back again? Probably not (and, unless someone else ends up in a coma, there’s no real way for this to happen anyway). Thankfully, Knight was happy with his (second) sendoff. “It was the ending I never expected and couldn’t possibly have expected, in so many ways,” he admitted. “It’s such an awkward position to be put in to be asked that, to be honest, with all due respect, so I will just say in Krista’s hands I feel safe, I feel energized.” Meg Marinis took over as showrunner from Vernoff in 2024, so Knight is probably finished … but that’s perfectly fine with fans like me.

“Grey’s Anatomy” is streaming on Netflix and Hulu now.