Jesse Williams to Reprise His Role as Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy

As seen in an all-new promo for the October 30 episode of ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ Jesse Williams in confirmed to reprise his role as the fan-favorite Dr. Jackson Avery in an episode titled “Goodbye Horses.”

Good news for Grey’s Anatomy fans: Jesse Williams is officially returning to Grey Sloan Memorial, reprising his role as the ridiculously handsome and eternally complicated Dr. Jackson Avery.

And this doesn’t seem to be a brief cameo either. Jackson is set to make his return in Season 22, Episode 4, titled “Goodbye Horses,” which will air on Thursday, October 30. As glimpsed in a new promo, Jackson is seen interacting with a few Grey Sloan staffers, including Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo).

However, the official synopsis for “Goodbye Horses” doesn’t offer any clues about why he’s back. The official logline reads: “The interns juggle a bizarre trauma, while a complex breast reconstruction forces Meredith into a tense partnership,” and his character is not mentioned at all, leaving details of his storyline totally shrouded in mystery.

Williams left the show as a series regular in 2020. The last episode he appeared in as a regular was Season 17, Episode 17, titled “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” which aired on June 3, 2021. In that episode, he left Grey Sloan to run the Catherine Fox Foundation in Boston.

Since then, he has made three guest-starring appearances on the show: once in Season 18, once in Season 19, and again in the premiere Season 21.

Episode 4 of season 22 will mark his fourth guest appearance on the show. So if you want to find out why he’s back, you’ll just have to tune in to Grey’s Anatomy when it airs on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Prior to this fantastic news, the closest thing we ever got to a Grey’s Anatomy reunion featuring Williams was a planned-but-canceled tribute that was supposed to play out during the 2025 Emmy Awards.

Producers had teased a tribute to ABC’s long-running medical drama that was set to feature alums Williams and Eric Dane. But when the moment came, Dane was noticeably absent, leaving Williams to hit the stage solo.

According to Deadline, “Dane pulled out at the last minute, believed to be on Emmy Sunday, from what was going to be the actor’s first major awards show appearance since he revealed his ALS diagnosis in April.”

Without Dane, “there was no Grey’s Anatomy tribute, with Williams going straight to presenting the award for Drama Series Directing without a mention of the ABC medical drama.”