'Grey's Anatomy' Newcomer Midori Francis on Joining Season 19 and Playing a 'Messy' New Intern (Exclusive)

Grey's Anatomy starts fresh in season 19 with the introduction of five bright-eyed medical interns, all hungry to make their mark on the medical world.

With Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital slowly rebuilding its reputation following the dramatics of last season and Meredith stepping into the chief role, the new class of interns -- played by Harry Shum Jr. (Blue), Adelaide Kane (Jules), Midori Francis (Mika), Alexis Floyd (Simone) and Niko Terho (Lucas) -- are breathing new life while also harkening back to the past as the medical drama turns over a new chapter.

For Francis, who portrays one of the new interns, Mika, joining the Grey's family has been as close to a full-circle moment as one can get after having grown up with the franchise as a teen and largely being inspired by Sandra Oh's iconic character, Cristina Yang.

"That character and seeing her, especially in the town I grew up in in New Jersey and what I was seeing on TV at that time, it was not [every day] an Asian actor was so present, had so much screen time and was so messy and so good," the Sex Lives of College Girls star shared in a recent phone interview with ET, adding later that "something in my gut said that this was a good move" when the opportunity arose to come onto the show.

Ahead of Thursday's premiere, the 28-year-old actress discusses why she's proud to be playing an Asian character who's not buttoned-up and perfect, surprises that are in store for viewers and why Ellen Pompeo's Grey's legacy is bigger than Meredith Grey.

ET: The Grey's Anatomy franchise has been a part of the pop culture lexicon for nearly two decades. Have you watched before you even knew this opportunity would become a reality? Was it surreal stepping into this world?

Midori Francis: I was a fan. I watched the show when I was in middle school when it first came out and I remember it was the talk of the town. Everyone loved it and I would watch it with my mom, I watched it with a friend of mine who ended up becoming a doctor and of course was inspired by, to put it lightly, Cristina Yang. That character and seeing her, especially in the town I grew up in in New Jersey and what I was seeing on TV at that time, it was not [every day] an Asian actor was so present, had so much screen time and was so messy and so good. Everyone loves Cristina Yang and that was a big deal for me as an actor.

I think I have this connection to the show from childhood. Naturally, as life grew and changed, I didn't follow the show over the years. But what happened was, my agent called and said, "They were looking at a handful of actors for this new season and you are one of them. Would you tape?" And I said, "Yeah, I will tape." Something in my gut said that this was a good move and I was excited by it because of those early connections to the show that I had as a kid. It felt like a great move for me also to play a doctor and to sort of mature into that space. All of it felt new in a really exciting way.

How much of your character, Mika, was fully formed when you got the first script? How much of her were you able to mold into your own? 

These writers have been doing this for a long time and are extremely talented and they have a map of the season, whether or not we're privy to it or not. But they have their map of the season. Of course, they know what they're doing and they had a basic idea of who these five people were and are, so when I walked into the writers' room, I kind of took a leap of faith joining this show and they gave me some qualities, some adjectives. That Mika is funny, that she is struggling with student loans and not in the best living situation. Really making ends meet here and a lot's on the line for her, but she does it with a very cutting sense of humor. There were a lot of things that were already there. As the writers get to know an actor, some things get put in based on what they see and things develop over time. I definitely think Mika is somebody that they had a clear idea of her vibe. I would say definitely a work in progress, and I would hope that I am contributing to that.

Just from the teasers that have been released, Mika seems to be a character who is a little bit messy. 

Totally. Oh, exactly, that's my favorite word! I'm very messy myself and I think that I get asked a lot about representation. It's probably because it's become something that's a buzzy thing to talk about. I'm careful about it because I think that talking about it with no purpose kind of loses its meaning. But I will say this, playing someone messy, no matter who or what they are, what their sexuality is, what their ethnicity is, that is the only way really to quote-unquote represent. Playing the opposite of a stereotype is nuance, so what are the things about this person that make them uniquely them? The basis of being a human being is to be messy, to make mistakes, to be imperfect. And I think that if you can do that with a character as an actor, then that really is all you can ask for in terms of representing.

There is the feeling that season 19, because of the new class of interns, there is a little bit of a passing of the baton, right? And it's particularly exciting to be introduced to a new group of aspiring doctors at the same time. What has the experience been like figuring out your place and your character's place in the fabric of Grey's?

Exactly, you hit the nail on the head there. Krista [Vernoff], our showrunner, told me specifically when I walked into the room, "We've never done this before. We haven't introduced five new series regular interns." They've had some classes in the past, but this is a full-on, here are five new people. We're exploring their journeys as new members of this hospital as surgical residents and that's having a big part of the story, so that is very new. What that allows is, first of all, you have this amazing cast of people who've been there for a long time who are so talented and their characters are so good at their jobs. Now you have five new people coming in who are not very good at their jobs, even if we are talented.

You could know everything in a textbook, but then when you step onto that floor at your first year as an intern, you are not good at knowing how to do certain things. I think that adding these five new bright-eyed, competitive people trying to fight. Similarly, we're all figuring out our characters and our place in this story. It very much matches our characters trying to figure out their place at this hospital. We're all coming in, and we're competitive, and we're bright-eyed, and have a lot to prove and then we also mess things up. That adds this element of tension and possibility between the original cast members and the new cast members. It's fun, I think, for everyone because some of the OG cast has talked about [how] it's cool now to step up into a mentor role or a teaching role.

Your co-star, Harry Shum Jr., spoke to us recently about working with Ellen Pompeo, whose character is so deeply ingrained in pop culture, and sharing scenes with her. Can you speak to your experience working with her on set?

Absolutely, her character and her voice, I think. That narrating voice of 20 years. It's one of those voices that is more than just someone's voice. It's a character that for many of us has been in some way part of our pop culture experience, so there is an element of that being surreal. But, like anything else, once that first meeting happens, you hope that you just all come back down and you're all people, and you're all just trying to work together to do the scene and very much that's been the attitude of people like Ellen and others. They're just here to work and we've all had such a good time. And in between takes, she'll give us little tidbits and it's been really fun.

Grey's is so good at pulling off surprises and twists and revelations that we're not expecting to come out of certain characters. Is there anything we should look out for with Mika's story as viewers start to get to know her?

Mika is more complicated than meets the eye. She has things going on outside of the hospital that you might not see, but inform the reason why she might be cutting at times to some of her male coworkers. Her sense of humor, I think, is very much a developed coping mechanism and you might not see that. You might just see her making jokes, so I think that there's a lot behind why she is the way she is that will be revealed.

Grey's Anatomy premieres Thursday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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