Andy Is in 'Leadership Purgatory' Heading into 'Station 19' Season 7
Jaina Lee Ortiz as Andy in 'Station 19.'
The day has finally come for Andy Herrera (Jaina Lee Ortiz) to take control of the firehouse on Station 19. Andy has been vying for captain of the house her father oversaw since the pilot of the series, but multiple setbacks and turnovers have stopped her from getting the coveted job.
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Chief Ross (Merle Dandridge) confirmed that Andy landed the position in the Season 6 finale, and now Jaina Lee Ortiz teases that being captain is not going to be a walk in the park for Andy.
"There’s so much pressure on her and she doesn’t have a crutch. She doesn’t have her dad or her best friend in her ear guiding her," Ortiz told Parade ahead of the Season 7 premiere. "She’s stepping into a position where she truly has to separate being a leader and being a friend. It’s a compromising and uncomfortable position to be in. She wants to be everyone’s best friend, but she also wants to be a trusted leader. She’s in leadership purgatory."
New co-showrunner Zoanne Clack added that Andy's arc this season is going to be figuring out exactly how she wants to run the fire station and putting her own stamp on the job.
"We are having Andy figure out how she is becoming the leader that she wants to be instead of how her father did it, how Maya did it, or how Sullivan did it, or anyone who did it before her," Clack explained. "She has to figure out how to bring her team together and keep the feeling of 19 being a family, and keep that going despite [the group] being fractured."
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That fracturing is in part because Andy beat out two of her new subordinates for the job. Theo (Carlos Miranda) and Sullivan (Boris Kodjoe) were also vying for the spot, but Andy won out. Neither of them took the news that well. However, Ortiz says that Andy isn't going to let their sulking get in the way of doing her job.
"Andy doesn’t give a rat’s a-- about what these two fellows have to say about her stepping into this position," the actress declared. "She didn’t get that by luck. She earned it and so she knows she deserves to be there because she feels like she’s proven herself and she’s worthy of that title."
Andy also has to worry about one of her trusted lieutenants being down. Jack (Grey Damon) collapsed at the end of Season 6 and fans await the Season 7 premiere to find out the damage from his latest head injury. Clack teases that Jack's safety is going to be at the forefront of everyone's mind when Station 19 returns.
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"Everyone is concerned," Clack teased. "Everyone knows that Jack will always be a part of 19 no matter what, so everyone is just making sure they are there for him."
That "no matter what" sounds ominous. Fans will find out what's next for Jack, Andy, and the firehouse when Station 19 premieres on Thursday, March 14 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
