Spoiler alert! This story contains minor spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy’s Season 19 episode “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves.”
Grey’s Anatomy is juggling a lot of characters in its 19th season, despite losing Meredith Grey. In between the attendings’ drama and the five new surgical interns, some characters haven’t been featured as prominently as some fans may prefer, and yes, I’m talking about Levi Schmitt. That could possibly be changing, however, as a potential new love interest was introduced in traveling nurse Carlos Garcia, and Jake Borelli opened up about why he’s excited to see where this takes his character.
Levi and Carlos (Calvin Seabrooks) met at the interns’ house party in the previous episode, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” and the chief resident was hilarious when he later experienced a near-run-in with the “hot nurse” at the hospital while wearing a bike helmet. Over the course of “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves,” Levi struggled to find his confidence, ultimately working up the nerve to ask Carlos out. Jake Borelli told The Wrap that he’s been hoping the show would explore Levi’s personal life more, saying:
I’ve been pitching for quite a long time, especially because Levi and Nico broke up over a year ago now, to have Levi experience more sides of the queer community, and to really meet more queer people and see what he actually wants and actually deserves and actually needs. We’re starting the ball rolling here with Carlos and we’ll see where it goes.
Nico Kim was not my favorite Grey’s Anatomy love interest, and after Levi came out in Season 15, the character really grew in a way that never felt reciprocated by his boyfriend. With Carlos being a traveling nurse, my guess is that he won’t be around for the long-term, but as Jake Borelli said, it’s a good start for Levi to see what else is out there.
As chief resident, the surgeon formerly known as “Glasses” seems to stay dangerously close to burning out, and while I’d totally watch a spinoff of Levi and Taryn Helm (Jaicy Elliot) tending bar at Joe’s after forgoing their surgical careers, I don’t really want to see him have another breakdown after working so hard to earn his place at Grey Sloan Memorial. He just needs to have some fun on the side! Jake Borelli certainly is having fun, and he talked about what it was like working with Calvin Seabrooks:
It was so fun playing in those scenes with Calvin, who plays Carlos, and just to have another queer actor on set has been really, really great.
Levi started out the latest episode not feeling “cool” enough to approach Carlos, but after successfully performing a huge surgery with Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen), he realized what a catch he is, and he asked Carlos out right then and there.
I’m glad to see more of Levi in the past couple of episodes, and I look forward to finding out where his new experiences take him, when Grey’s Anatomy returns at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, March 23, on ABC. In the meantime, check out our 2023 TV schedule to see what premieres are coming up.
