“There was so much more story to tell with Maya and Carina.”
On Station 19, viewers watched as the couple navigated past family trauma, difficult life decisions, and in the end, chose each other. The final season saw them adopt their son, find a home, and begin to build their life. (The series finale even included a flash forward with a few more kids). But there was still more to explore. “There was so much more story to tell with Maya and Carina,” Danielle Savre tells Entertainment Weekly.
As part of our celebration of 20 years of Shondaland, EW chatted with Savre and Spampinato about some of the couple’s most memorable moments, the fan response to their characters, and the stories they wish Station 19 got to tell.
At the start Maya is resistant to a serious relationship with anyone, but Carina changes her mind. I’m curious about when each of you knew these characters were going to be each other’s person?
DANIELLE SAVRE: Right away. The first table read was the first day Stefania and I met each other. We knew this was going to be something that worked. I don’t think either one of us, I don’t want to speak for you Stefania, we could have ever known where this relationship on the show [would go]. From that moment, we knew it was something special.
STEFANIA SPAMPINATO: In hindsight now we knew from moment one, but I didn’t fully realize it [until] the episodes started airing. It was great since day one, but there was no way to predict that. Then we started seeing the reaction of the fans. It wasn’t just our impression that this was good, people felt that way too.
I want to jump ahead to the scene where Maya and Carina say “I love you” for the first time. Maya’s trying to win her back. What do you remember about shooting that?
SAVRE: I remember being nervous to film that day because I’m not usually at Grey’s and I was working with Kim Raver. I just cut my hair off.
SPAMPINATO: Yeah, you did just chop off your hair.
SAVRE: I’m remembering all the technical stuff like we did not have a lot of time to shoot that scene.
SPAMPINATO: I remember it happening very fast. It was one of those scenes that went by so fast and we were like, “Is this good? Did it work or did not?”
SAVRE: Yeah, I remember feeling the exact same way.
Part of the “I love you” scene is Maya coming to terms with her father’s abuse. I’m curious about your take on how the relationship and Carina coming into Maya’s life really helped her understand her past?
SAVRE: It was love, right? If you’re going to talk about Shondaland as a whole, most of their characters are looking for love and to find that person. For Maya specifically, she never knew what love was. Love was always conditional to her and to some extent with friendship it does feel from Maya’s perspective that it was still conditional. Carina was the first person to love her unconditionally. Then she was able to realize that what she wanted in life and in love was not somebody that was constantly demanding more from her, but accepted her for who she was.
SPAMPINATO: Maya did resist Carina’s love at first or in certain moments because deeply she didn’t accept or love herself. I thought it was beautiful to see her journey like within herself to then be able to accept somebody else’s love.
There are so many powerful, romantic, and hilarious scenes you share on Station 19. What is something about acting you learned about from each other?
SPAMPINATO: The main thing I remember is how committed and giving [Danielle] is as an actor. Some actors when [they’re] off camera, they don’t give you as much and Danielle always gave like she was on camera. That’s definitely something that stayed with me. We were always very much there for one another and the playfulness came out very naturally for both of us.
SAVRE: You also showed up and gave up 110 percent every time when the camera wasn’t on you. I remember a scene we did together where I walked into the captain’s office. You came up to me and I’m crying, but I was angry. Every take you were talking me through it so I stayed in it. We really were a team. We both were the same in our acting style in that regard. Also, I learned from you to let go and enjoy the process. From my perspective, I’d been doing this for so long as a kid that I always felt, almost like Maya, I had to come with my [script] had to be highlighted and my things had to be checked. You have this beautiful ability to come to set and though you’re prepared and giving it your all in between takes you’re able to let loose and enjoy it.
SPAMPINATO: Thank you. Also for me, watching you being word perfect and so committed to that. Sometimes I feel like I needed to respect the writers more because they put so much effort into this work and I would sometimes show up and hide under the fact that I was foreign and change things up. These people made so much effort to be good at this.
Their love story has a lot of big moments but I wanted to ask if there were any smaller moments or ones that aren’t the huge milestones that you both absolutely love?
SAVRE: I do remember the one that you went into the captain’s office and [Maya’s] mother was there. No one really asked about that one and that one really held a lot of weight for me.
SPAMPINATO: It was a very important moment for the character as well.
SAVRE: As actors, it was our first big emotional moment that we had together. It was such a huge emotional moment and we don’t get asked about those as much.
SPAMPINATO: Yeah, that and the panic attack. I feel like [the questions] tend to gravitate towards lighter [moments]. There is a moment I recently rewatched because I was working on my reel. It’s the scene where Maya is coming in from work and Carina wants to practice for the green card interview. They end up lying down in bed and they whisper “love you” to one another. That wasn’t scripted, but I thought it was so sweet and intimate. I was like, “Wow, look at these two actors being so comfortable with one another.” I was proud of us.
One of those big moments is their wedding. What memory stands out to you from shooting that episode?
SPAMPINATO: It was an amazing party because we were in the middle of the pandemic so the fact that the whole cast was there, we were celebrating life, and it was such an fun episode to shoot.
SAVRE: Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel. That was the first time we had a group together that big and partied. It was all under masks and testing, but it was fun. The entire time we had the shields. It was a beautiful thing to shoot and it’s something I’ll never forget for sure.
I’m curious about what stands out to you both from the fans’ response to their relationship, specifically from the LGBTQ+ viewers of the show.
SAVRE: The ones that stick out to me the most are the [people that say] because of watching Maya coming out to her father, they were able to come out to their parents. When I hear those, it’s hard to not get emotional when someone tells me. I didn’t write the scenes, I just played Maya, so I was able to play a character that was written so well that resonated with so many people. They were going through a similar situation and they had the courage to act on what they felt was their true self.
SPAMPINATO: Also messages from parents that tell you, “Thanks to your character our daughter got the courage to come out to us and tell us.” People that feel like finally there’s like a queer love story well represented, that you root for. Shondaland has a lot of them and I feel like Maya and Carina were one of them.
The final season got to show some of Maya and Carina adjusting to life as moms. What was it like for you both to see them reach that point?
SAVRE: It was beautiful to finally get there especially since it was such a big part of their relationship. Carina wanted it so much and Maya didn’t at first and then you get to see a journey of two people figuring out how to start a family together, especially as a same-sex marriage. I’m glad we were able to do it in the final season and that it was a slow burn. I loved it. It made me so happy. Then the jump ahead in the future in that final episode to see that they had a couple more. It just warmed my heart to see that play out and to be part of it.
SPAMPINATO: I was very excited about that storyline when we first started talking about it, then within the following three seasons I was less and less excited about it. I feel like the last season for me was a bit of a blur. There were a lot of other things I wish we had a chance to talk about, but there just wasn’t enough time. Like Carina talking about sex to teenagers and the way we talk about ovarian cancer. We clearly do not have time to wrap up all those stories in 10 episodes. I feel like the way they did it was perfect given the amount of episodes we had. They had to give them a family and I love the happy ending.
What are some of the things you would have loved for fans to get to see Maya and Carina explore in their life together?
SAVRE: There was so much more story to tell with Maya and Carina. She left in a place where she [didn’t] really want to go after being captain anymore, so I would love to have seen how she was able to move up without feeling it needs to be something to achieve in order to be worthy. Also, I would have loved to have continued to see a woman in a male-dominated industry. Maya, Vic and Andy were these bad ass women and I feel like we touched on it a lot, but never as much as I would have loved. We knew when we did those flash forwards that Maya carried one of their children. It would have been nice to see how she was able to be pregnant and still be a firefighter. That’s something even real firefighters struggle with because how do you balance work and motherhood? I would have loved to have seen Maya balance that.
SPAMPINATO: Carina came into [Grey’s Anatomy] with this study about female sexuality and I would love to see her almost come full circle with that and teach sex education to younger adults. To still feel like [she’s] contributing to society in a different way, geared to young adults since she now has kids. Also, they say relationships after seven years go through a little struggle. I would have loved to see the seventh year of their relationship and see how they pulled through that.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
