For 10 seasons, Jessica Capshaw played pediatric surgeon Arizona Robbins on Grey’s Anatomy, where her character survived a plane crash, intense relationship drama with wife Callie Torres and countless medical emergencies involving children. Now she’s traded in the scrubs for something a little more country as part of the 9-1-1: Nashville, so how does she feel about the change of pace? Turns out she’s more than OK with it.
Jessica Capshaw is back on ABC Thursdays, just on a different show, as she plays Blythe, the wife of Chris O’Donnell’s fire captain Don Hart, on the Ryan Murphy spinoff that premiered on the 2025 TV schedule this month. While Arizona was a rock in an emergency on Grey’s Anatomy, Blythe lets her husband and son handle the first responding on 9-1-1: Nashville, and that’s just how the actress likes it. She said on The Kelly Clarkson Show:
It’s a relief. Let them deal with those fires.
It sounds like Jessica Capshaw is fully embracing her new character’s lifestyle, and even though Blythe still finds plenty of drama — thanks in large part to her husband's ex, Dixie Bennings (LeAnn Rimes) — there’s a lot about the world of medicine that she seems fine to leave in the rearview mirror. She continued:
It’s been kind of a relief to not have all the pressure of the medical and the [terminology] and the saving lives, having to be a hero every day. I get to just sort of, you know, wear some high heels.
Whether it’s high heels or cowboy boots, somebody call time of death on Dr. Robbins’ rollerskates!
Jessica Capshaw joined Grey’s Anatomy in Season 5 and was not only a series regular through Season 14 but one of the show's most iconic queer characters before being written off alongside Sarah Drew’s April Kepner, due to the show’s need to downsize its large cast.
Shonda Rhimes paid tribute to the actresses in a touching social media post, but there was still some confusion surrounding their exits, at least on Sarah Drew’s part, as she has candidly said their firing felt “mean and unjust.” Time seems to have healed some of that, as both actresses have come back to the show for guest appearances.
Jessica Capshaw made her return to Grey Sloan Memorial in Season 20, seven years after her final episode as a series regular, and she’s also started a podcast Call It What It Is with current Grey’s Anatomy star Camilla Luddington (aka Jo Wilson), where they often talk about the medical drama and discuss all the behind-the-scenes tea.
Naturally, now they’ve added 9-1-1: Nashville to their list of regular topics, so tune in to see how Jessica Capshaw continues to enjoy her non-first-responder role, and tune into the 9-1-1 spinoff at 9 p.m. ET Thursdays (followed by Grey’s Anatomy at 10 p.m.) on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.
