Jules Millin really got put through the emotional wringer in the first half of Grey’s Anatomy Season 21. After having to put her budding relationship with Mika Yasuda on the back burner, the two finally did sleep together in the midseason finale, only to have Mika announce immediately after that she was leaving the hospital. However, when actress Adelaide Kane talks about which part of “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (which can be streamed with a Hulu subscription) made her “very uncomfortable,” it wasn’t Midori Francis in the scene with her but Grey’s OG Chandra Wilson.
When Grey’s Anatomy returns on the 2025 TV schedule, it will be without two former series regulars, as Jake Borelli and Midori Francis exited as planned. After Mika and Jules’ hot hookup, Mika tells Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) that she can’t continue to work in the place where her sister Chloe died, and she quits on the spot. With no other outlet for her rage, Jules blames Bailey for letting Mika go like she didn’t mean anything. That was not an easy scene for Adelaide Kane, as she told Shondaland:
That scene was very uncomfortable for me to shoot because I love [Chandra Wilson] so much. It just felt so disrespectful to be yelling at such an incredible actor who I admire. I apologized a lot [laughs]. I was like, ‘I’m so sorry; I know that my tone is really inappropriate and disrespectful, but I love you, and it’s just acting.’ And she was so kind about it. Chandra’s such an angel.
Jules had been holding all of her emotions inside for weeks while Mika dealt with Chloe’s cancer, treatment and ultimately her tragic death. Then, when Jules thought the time was finally right for them, Mika left altogether? Obviously Jules couldn’t take her heartbreak out on Mika, and Bailey ended up getting the brunt of it.
It’s not surprising at all that Chandra Wilson was such a gracious scene partner for Adelaide Kane in that instance, because she had been in the exact same position in the Season 21 premiere. “If Walls Could Talk” picked up seemingly right where Season 20 left off, with Bailey staring down Debbie Allen’s Catherine Fox and ultimately slapping her in the face.
With Debbie Allen being not just an executive producer on Grey’s Anatomy but an all-around legend in the entertainment industry, one can understand why Chandra Wilson might push back at such an idea, but Allen insisted, “Catherine needed to be slapped,” and she said shooting that scene was “really fun.”
When Grey’s Anatomy Season 21 resumes, Adelaide Kane is sure that her character will realize the error of her ways, saying:
But it’s not Bailey’s job to convince somebody to stay, and I think Jules will be smart enough to know that once her feelings aren’t running so hot and when she’s not just looking for someone to blame.
The second half of Season 21 can’t come soon enough, not only because I want to know how Jules moves on from this whole devastating ordeal, but I also want to see what other damage Sophia Bush’s Cass can cause to Teddy and Owen’s relationship and, of course, find out what happens to Lucas and Jo since we last saw them in a hostage situation. It all starts at 10 p.m. ET Thursday, March 6, on ABC.