Warning: This story contains spoilers from the Thursday, February 6, episode of Station 19.
Moving on. That’s what the Station 19 crew attempted to do on this week’s episode after Ryan (Alberto Frezza) lost his life due to a horrible accident.
At the end of the January 31 episode, Ryan was shot by a toddler who lived in Andy’s (Jaina Lee Ortiz) building. While his fate was left up in the air, this week’s episode confirmed he is gone, as it began with a funeral.
Over the hour, viewers learned even more about his past with Andy and Pruitt (Miguel Sandoval). Ryan was the only one who could get Andy to cry and let her feelings out following the loss of her mother. When they were 20, they laid under the stars together and talked about the future. However, it also revealed that Ryan was back in Seattle for a reason: Pruitt asked him to return to take care of Andy because he knew he’d be gone in a few months, due to his cancer.
While Pruitt struggled with the tragedy, Andy did the opposite — she threw herself into work and wore the hard exterior she had when she lost her mother.
Following the episode, Frezza, 30, revealed to Us Weekly how he felt about the end and what he thinks is next for Andy. Read the full Q&A below:
Us Weekly: Let’s start at the top! How did this come about — and how did you find out?
AF: I think it was a couple of months after season 2 ended and I got a call. My agent ended up calling me and then I got a call from Krista [Vernoff], the showrunner. She told me her idea and what she wanted season 3 to be like, creating certain conflicts and creating more drama revolving around Andy. I mean, I guess, starting with a bang was getting rid of the love of her life and her best friend! She had this vision for the new season of station 19 and the way she wanted to carry the show forward.
Us: How did you react?
AF: I was a little sad at the beginning but then also, the way she set up the idea and the way she wanted Ryan to leave the show was also very interesting. It’s a powerful message. I think that these kinds of stories definitely need to be told. It was a love and hate [reaction] because I was sad to leave the show, but at the same time, it was a very nice way to go out.
Us: How emotional was it to film?
AF: It was emotional. My first callback was with Paris Barclay, who’s the directing producer and he’s directed many many episodes. He was the first person that directed the first episode of the first season, so what was really emotional and also beautiful about my going away was when I filmed my last scenes, he was directing that specific episode. So it was very nice to start with him and then end with him. the scene takes place with Andy and Jana and I became very close throughout the year. It was sad, but also beautiful. I don’t know why it sounds weird, but it was very beautiful for me.
Us: It doesn’t sound weird. Like you said, it’s an important story to tell.
AF: Absolutely. And it was really nice that we had the character Milo. The kid was on set, so it was a very nice distraction to have him interacting with us between takes and he was joking around and playing. A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, my God. I can’t believe we’re shooting your [final] scene! The last scene! How does it feel?’ and then he would come in and start joking around. It kind of took the weight off of the whole dramatic aspect of filming that day.
Us: In the flashbacks, we see how important Ryan has been in Andy’s life. Will she ever be able to find that kind of connection again?
AF: Honestly, I don’t think so. If we look back at how much history these two characters have … You can find certain people that maybe you can rely on or have certain types of conversations with but the memories and the history that is so deep between these two characters [isn’t replaceable]. You can’t recreate somebody being there for you when your mom passes away or all the trouble that she got into and he was there for throughout their childhood. I don’t think she’ll ever be able to find that. My favorite movie of all time is Stand by Me and there’s a beautiful quote saying, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Does anyone?” I honestly don’t think that Andy will ever find anybody like that. … Their relationship was very, very complicated. They’ve been in love for so long, but at the same time, it was kind of like they relied on each other. I wouldn’t say that they were brother and sister, but they were that close to me.
Station 19 airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
