It’s been over 15 years since Kate Walsh waltzed into Seattle Grace Hospital as Addison Montgomery to confront the Grey's Anatomy character who'd been been screwing her estranged husband. Addison's relationship with Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey and on-screen hubby Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) was a complicated one as time progressed, but the same couldn't be said for the stars off-screen, as Walsh and Pompeo still seem pretty friendly, even eight years after Walsh bid farewell to Addison on Private Practice.
Ellen Pompeo gave a shout to Kate Walsh recently after one of Walsh's dog-and-cat posts on Instagram went viral. Check it out below!
It's indeed hard not to love Kate Walsh's video, which shows cat sleeping with its head entirely within a sleeping dog's mouth. The video led to Ellen Pompeo sharing a comment, which then inspired Walsh to reference their iconic Grey’s Anatomy storyline with a jokey question that she later deleted and flipped to a set of emojis. But here's what her original comment was:
Ellen Pompeo: OMG this is crazy!Kate Walsh: Do u think she was sleeping with her husband?!
While Kate Walsh and Ellen Pompeo weren’t always playing friendly as their respective characters, seeing them share this exchange while recalling their highly contentious early relationship on the medical series proves none of the on-screen animosity carried over into real life. Or at least it didn't last, if it ever existed at all. There's no telling exactly why Walsh excised the Grey's reference, but it probably had something to do with fans going berserk in the post.
And if that wasn’t enough, Patrick Dempsey also commented on the post, simply with a trio of crying laughing emojis. Dempsey was one of several former stars who made surprise returns throughout Season 17, as connected to Meredith's COVID storyline. And while Kate Walsh wasn't one of those stars, fans are still hoping that Addison will make her triumphant return to the ABC series before it goes away forever. Walsh has said before she would “absolutely” come back to Grey’s Anatomy if it was the right time and the right storyline. Addison did get her happy ending in spinoff Private Practice, but fans can’t help but wonder what she’s been up to all these years.
The one great thing about social media is seeing all of these interactions between celebrities and their current or former co-stars. Grey’s Anatomy has been around for such a long time, with many cast members having come and gone, so there are a plethora of fictional and real life stories that have been shared between the cast and crew. That said, those first few seasons had much more of the signature drama that laid the groundwork for its expansive run, especially when it came to the love triangle between Meredith, Derek and Addison.
Although this exchange between Pompeo and Walsh wasn’t a huge in-person hang, it did bring back memories from those early seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. With Season 18 having just started production, it’s still possible that Kate Walsh could make an appearance, since it’s clear she and Ellen Pompeo are still friends. It does raise the question of what could bring her back to Seattle, since she was in the LA area when Private Practice bowed out. Perhaps some kind of storyline that drew parallels back to how Addison was first introduced, though obviously without Derek involved, since he's long dead by now.
Grey's Anatomy will return to ABC for Season 18 on Thursday, September 30, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Keep tabs on all the other big 2021 Fall TV shows debuting in the coming months while waiting for new episodes.
