T.R. Knight played George “007” O’Malley on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy from Season 1 until the character’s untimely death in Season 6. The beloved character was best friends with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and loved the team he became a resident with at Seattle Grace Hospital, and fans have missed him since the character was killed off. But George has made a few appearances on the show, like when Meredith had COVID-19, and he came to her in a dream. But more recently, Knight returned to the set to watch Chandra Wilson, who plays Miranda Bailey on the series, direct.
Knight was speaking to PEOPLE about his new Broadway show Stranger Things: The First Shadow when he shared how surreal going back to the set of Grey’s Anatomy was. “That was interesting because that was revisiting all the sets. That was being back in the space, in the house — which has changed so much. In the hospital set — which has changed so much,” Knight said. “But some things haven’t changed — like the bar is still there and hasn’t changed. So that had a little bit of a surreal quality for me. I remember walking around with Chandra and being like, ‘Oh my God, this is crazy.’“
What made Knight cry though while being on set? Meredith’s house. In the show, George and his fellow residents all live in Meredith’s house together at certain points throughout the series and he shared that being back in the kitchen was surprisingly emotional for him. “Being back in Meredith’s house was actually surprisingly the most emotional,” he said. “Everything else seemed surreal, but being back in the house — and in the kitchen, oddly enough, I don’t know why, specifically in the kitchen — it got me in the feelings a little bit. My eyes got a little wet with the salt water.”
George O’Malley’s Death Is Still Heartbreaking
George’s title of “007” is actually heartbreaking. The name happened after George almost killed a patient, and he was teased as having a “license to kill” because of it. But when he comes into the hospital as a “John Doe” because his wounds from being hit by a bus make it impossible for the other doctors to identify him and as they are trying to save him, he finds a way of telling Meredith that it is “007.” George’s death is one of those on Grey’s Anatomy that still hurts to think about.
But you can see Knight as George for six seasons of Grey’s Anatomy.
