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TwitterAnthony Edwards on his return to the 'ER'
There's a reason you haven't seen a whole lot of Anthony Edwards since his departure from ER in 2002: He's been busy living his life.
"You know, I have yet to meet a person who says they wish they spent less time with their kids when they were younger," says Edwards, who nonetheless will make one final appearance on ER Thursday (Nov. 13) as part of the NBC show's farewell season. "And I'm really lucky that I have that opportunity. So it's going to be a few more years before my kids are really, really sick of me and want me gone. So when I get the final, 'You really have to go back to work,' then my mind will be a little more open to that."
For now, though, Edwards has a production deal at CBS -- where he's developing a script with 30 Rock writer Jack Burditt -- the occasional film role (most recently in last year's Zodiac) and dad duties with his four kids, ranging in age from 6 to 14, to keep him busy. "I've been working as an actor since I was 16, so when I hit 40, I was OK about leaving and not doing as much for a while," he says. "I didn't have that, 'What's the next movie?' [impulse] that I'd had for 24 years before, you know? So that was part of it. I think hopefully a little maturity and some moolah."
Edwards has also thrown himself into philanthropic work since leaving ER. He's currently working with a group called Shoe4Africa to help build a 250-bed children's hospital in Kenya, and he says part of his motivation for appearing in the episode was the chance to promote the cause.
He's also putting his money where his mouth is. Instead of being paid for his guest spot, Edwards asked ER producer Warner Bros. to donate $125,000 to the charity, which has since snowballed: "Steven Spielberg found out about [it] and he matched, and [ER executive producer] John Wells kicked in $50,000," he says.
As for Thursday's episode, Edwards appears in a series of flashbacks that connect County General's newest attending physician, Dr. Cate Banfield (Angela Bassett) with Mark Greene's time. The scenes are set near the end of Greene's time at the hospital -- when he's undergoing treatment for the cancer that eventually caused his death -- and feature several other former ER regulars as well (whose identities we won't spoil here).
"After about half an hour it really felt like I'd never left," Edwards says. "The same conversations were happening that were happening six years ago, the same dynamics between the crew members, the same jokes. And they had gone to great effort to make it look like it did [six years ago] -- you know, when I look at the show now I see how different the ER looks than when I was on it. And they went to great effort to have all the props, everything back to 2002. So it was really -- I had a really great four days there."
More from Edwards about his ER swan song:
On the decision to return: "It sounds kind of silly, but I mean, I really did have eight really good years on the show, and so much of that is about trust. And I'd had 180 episodes of trust, knowing that they were going to do interesting stories, and they always did.
"So I really wasn't -- I knew they would take care of him and take care of it. ... It's a funny thing. You feel as an actor that you own the character, but the truth is so do the writers. The writers really feel an ownership of Greene, so they want to do right for him. So there's actually more people looking out for you than yourself in the end."
On the ease of revisiting the character: "When you do a series and you do television like that for so many years, so much of the character is similar to yourself. Writers pick up on things that you do that they add to the character. So, you know, I'm not as -- I'll never be as smart as Dr. Greene, but there's a lot of familiarity in who he is.
"So I think that bottom line thing that I always cared the most about him was there, which is that he really loved being a doctor. That's not a hard thing to jump back into."
On ER's place in television history: "I think it's one of those Gunsmokes of TV. ... In its heyday, the numbers and the world that it had.
"I just was in my attic the other day and had all these boxes that had been sent to L.A., and it was full of all these covers of -- magazine covers and things, a ton. And you forget -- [it was] like, Wow, there was a time when we were on the cover of Newsweek. And so, you know, hopefully you'll think of it as M*A*S*H. That would be the perfect thing."
Are you excited to see Edwards return to the ER? Which other former cast members do you want to see return?
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
I can't wait to see Dr. Greene back. I'd love to see his wife Dr. Corday back too, but I heard there is bad blood with the producers. Carter's coming back at some point, so I guess Dr. Chen, and Dr. Pratt would be great to see.
There was a time that ER was my favorite show. After a time, I was getting closer and closer to letting the show go, and the death of Dr. Greene was the natural end of the series for me. I haven't watched an episode since. I probably will watch this one, however, since Dr. Greene is back, and I missed the show for the first time in a long time when I heard the news that Michael Crichton died. It will be like a nice memory shared one last time and a proper way to acknowledge everything the show did mean to me at one point even though I haven't paid attention to it in quite some time.
ER was one of the best--at one time. Anthony Edwards was in my opinion( with Noah Wylie)the true stars of the show and after that powerful episode in which Dr. Greene eventually suc***bed to his cancer it was almost like the beginning of the end for the show. Then when Dr. Carter finally left it really should have concluded. There have been some good, even some very good episodes since then with Pratt, Morris, Abby and others doing a decent job. BUT....it really was not the same after Edwards and Carter and even Ross and Hathaway and Benton left.
I do like how they are bringing back most of the earlier characters though.
I was a recurring extra on the show back in the 90s when most of the original cast was still there. Tony is truly a cl*** act and it's great to see him back.
When ER debuted in 1994 I was a Sop****re in High School. Now I'm 31 and have a career. I've always been a fan of the show and I can say that I've seen every episode from day 1. There have been some middle of the road episodes and some bumps in the road. You can't expect that there wouldn't be for a show that has run 15 seasons.
What I love about the show is that it has always stayed true to what it is: A medical drama driven by stories and the characters who tell them.
One of my first "real" jobs out of college was working as a computer tech in a hospital. One of the things ER has so accurately represented over the years is its portrayal of a real hospital. I know this evolved out of actor's contracts and schedule changes, but I found that much like the TV ER, Nurses are the constant, some working there for over 20 years, while all the doctors come and go.
I am sad to see ER go. Grey's Anatomy can only hope to be half the show ER was.
I want to rub myself all over Dr. Green. Deelicious!
I finally gave up on ER during the season following Noah Wyle's Doctor Carter's departure from the show. Without his presence grounding things back to the days of greatness I remembered, I no longer cared about it. It's characters had become very card board and very boring and uninteresting. AE's return as Dr. Greene will see me watch once again for the first time since the shows true series finale, when Wyle/Carter left the show. I might tune in for the series finale as well, but doubt it will be as good as seeing Greene again. The show should have been canceled years ago, I fear. I said such years ago as well. Not every show has the Law & Order ability to survive the cast transitions it's endured. Even the original Law & Order almost died these past few years from it, only last year with a 13-episode half-season reviving itself (finally) once more. It's often better to go out on top than to wait and fizzle away.
Hey Doug...L&O had a full season last year (18 eps due to the writer's strike)...just an fyi
I am soooooooooo excited about Dr. Greene being back on ER tonight. I've stayed with ER thru the years even after the original characters had all gone. They did what a lot of shows don't do when introducing new characters...they would show them with the veteran characters for a long enough time to make us care about them so when a vet left, it wasn't so jarring. It has changed a lot, but it's still a good show & worth watching. I usually record it & watch it later, but I think I'll watch it live tonight.
I will miss ER so much. It's been my favourite show for so long now. To all of the people that quit watching after "this one" or "that one" left, you have missed so much good tv! The characters have changed over time, but the drama and story lines have continued to be the best on tv! I will truly miss it!
I will also miss ER a lot when it is gone. Yes, I'd gotten attached to different characters, but others came in that brought a different dimension to the show. As much as I loved some of the departed characters, I think the series would have gotten stale if all the same people had been there the entire run.
I've watched the episode with Anthony Edwards in the flashbacks as Dr. Greene, and I have to say that in my opinion it was excellent. And I liked it that Eriq La Salle (Dr. Benton) was the one who did the intro about the death of Michael Crichton. When I saw that I was wondering if Dr. Benton was going to be one of the cameos in the show, but he wasn't.