The weeks are counting down until Grey's Anatomy arrives in the 2024 TV schedule for Season 21, and changes are on the way. Jason George is returning to the medical drama following the end of Station 19 in the spring, while Jake Borelli is leaving as Levi Schmitt. Now, a new cast member has been announced for the upcoming season, and I'm officially ready to request that singing returns to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Grey's Anatomy may not have the greatest track record with musical episodes, but could Michael Thomas Grant really join the show and not sing?
Michael Thomas Grant's most recent network TV credit was elsewhere on ABC with the short-lived The Rookie: Feds, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and the character Leif when I think of the actor, and that was a role that required quite a lot of singing. TVLine reports that Grant has been cast to recur in Grey's Anatomy Season 21 as the hospital's new chaplain, named James. He's an openly gay Episcopal chaplain, to be specific, who is confident in his spirituality for his work but at a crossroads when it comes to love in his personal life.
And dang it, I want to see him sing! Grant recurred in the first season of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist before being bumped up to series regular status for Season 2, and then appeared in the wrap-up Christmas movie following the musical dramedy's NBC cancellation. Considering that ZEP centered on a young woman who hears the inner thoughts of people around her as songs sung directly to her (often including dance breaks), Grant did a lot of singing and dancing as Leif.
Grey's Anatomy's attempt at a musical episode back in Season 7 doesn't exactly rank on our list of best of all time, but I'd love to see singing make a comeback in some form or other. If it seems odd that I'm suddenly hoping for Grey's Anatomy to find an excuse to let the cast sing after a different Zoey's alum already joined the medical drama a few seasons ago, then just check out the below clip and see what I mean when I praise Michael Thomas Grant's singing:
Posted by ZoeysExtraordinaryPlaylist on
If you never watched Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, that clip is undoubtedly quite strange without any context for a bunch of men singing Jesus Christ Superstar's title song in an office. But context or not, I hope everybody can agree that Michael Thomas Grant absolutely kills it with the vocals and riffs!
I'm also not suggesting that Grey's get as goofy as Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist could get with Leif, but hopefully his role as chaplain at Grey Sloan means singing at some point. Even if hymns aren't exactly "Superstar" or any of the other top performances from ZEP, they could fit for his character on the ABC drama.
Find out what Grey's Anatomy has in store for Michael Thomas Grant with the Season 21 premiere on Thursday, September 26 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. If you want to see what I'm talking about with Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, you can find both NBC seasons streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription. If you want to check out Grey's Anatomy's go at a musical episode, you can find that with Season 7 streaming via Hulu subscription.
