Kim Raver Talks Complex Female Characters on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and Lifetime’s ‘Tempting Fate’ [Interview] (2025)

Kim Raver was an important part of this year’s ATX Television Festival, participating not only in the Grey’s Anatomy screening and panel, but also on Lifetime’s 35th-anniversary panel, a discussion of “the female gaze,” and a panel on “stages of a TV directing career.”

Raver, who recently returned to Grey’s Anatomy as Teddy Altman, is making her directorial film debut with tonight’s premiere of Tempting Fate on Lifetime. She co-directed the film with her husband, Manu Boyer, and also serves as an executive producer. (See the trailer below.)

Based on Jane Green’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, Tempting Fate follows the story of mother-of two Gabby (Alyssa Milano) whose picture-perfect marriage to Elliott (Steve Kazee, Shameless) is jeopardized when she meets Matt (Zane Holtz, From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series), a handsome younger man who seemingly ignites a fire and desire within her.

I sat down with Kim Raver last week during the ATX Television Festival to talk a bit about Tempting Fate, Grey’s Anatomy, and what those two projects have in common.

Tempting Fate is a story Raver was excited to be able to tell. She read the book by Jane Green and was immediately struck by it.

“What I liked about the story was that she wasn’t this perfect person. She was a flawed character whose life explodes, and then she has to figure it out and make it better. And I thought, what an incredible thing for other women to see, you know a little bit like Grey’s. What I love about what Shonda [Rhimes] does and what Krista Vernoff does so well is that [there] are moments where the characters aren’t perfect, but then you also have their hero moments,” Raver said.

“I just think that as women we can relate to that. We’re not all perfect,” she continued, going on to describe the common stereotypes of women needing to appear perfect in every way and have perfect lives. “It makes our day to day very hard because you’re aspiring to something that’s not attainable. So I loved this story, Tempting Fate, because of that — because it’s a multi-layered, complicated woman.”

Tempting Fate is the first of three films based on Jane Green’s novels that will air on Lifetime this summer. Following Tempting Fate will be To Have and To Hold and Family Pictures. Raver is an executive producer and director for all three films.

“They’re all about women. That’s where Lifetime is really amazing,” she said, also noting that Lifetime is focused on telling stories for women by women.

“They are hiring 78% women directors whereas [elsewhere] in the industry it’s 17%,” she continued. “And I did get to do it with my husband which was incredible. We worked together as EPs and directors and that was just an amazing collaboration.”

There’s a connection for Raver between these films and the stories that are being told on Grey’s Anatomy. During the festival’s Grey’s Anatomy panel, Raver pointed out that times are changing with the way women treat each other and the stories being told about them, saying she felt we were finally in a time where women were supporting other women.

“That was super important for me when Teddy came back, that it wasn’t like, who’s gonna get the guy,” Raver shared. Teddy returned this past season, pregnant with Owen’s baby, only to see that Owen had started a new life with Amelia.

“I think Caterina [Scorsone] and I were really pitching to Krista Vernoff, the showrunner — and she was totally in agreement too — let’s not have these two women fighting for the guy. And I feel like we did that love triangle in a very different way than most other shows have done, and I feel like that’s also a sign of the times. Even in the finale, Teddy’s in labor, and we’re in the back of a police car, and she says to Teddy, ‘I think in some other life, we would have been friends. Why aren’t we friends now?'” Raver said.

“It doesn’t mean it’s not complicated, and that’s what I love. Life is complicated. And that’s also what I loved about the Jane Green movies. Life is complicated. We’re not perfect,” she continued.

“I love in Tempting Fate, where she fucks up and has an affair, and then she has to sleep in the bed that she’s made. So for me, I feel like my movies on Lifetime are definitely inspired by my time on Grey’s Anatomy and being in Shondaland.”

Raver also reflected a bit on what it was like to return to Grey’s Anatomy as Teddy after having been away from the show for several seasons.

“It was incredible. It was literally like coming home after going away to college,” she said. “To come back and revisit the character, I just felt so comfortable. It’s such an amazing set. It really is.”

“After 15 seasons, the fact that they’re still finding new ways to tell stories and new stories to tell is incredible. So to be a part of that is exhilarating. I really love Teddy, and I really feel that there was more to tell about her,” Raver stated. “What I love about being back I feel like there’s so much more perspective from Teddy.”

Raver is also excited to see what’s next for Owen and Teddy after the Season 15 finale, where they ultimately decided they wanted to be together just as their child was born.

“There’s a lot of interesting stuff to explore,” Raver noted. “I love it because it’s earned.”

Their final scene on the season finale was a powerful and emotional one. “It was a really great moment. I like it too because it’s also conflicted. Because she did create something kind of great with Tom. But again, that’s life. It’s not linear. It’s not one thing. It’s always many things, and Grey’s gets that so well. But at that moment, there were so many times for us to actually arrive at that moment, and it was written so incredibly well by Krista [Vernoff].”

Raver talked a bit about the birth scene itself, which showed Teddy’s pain in an honest way.

“It’s funny. I saw some tweet, and they said, ‘birth can be a beautiful thing. It doesn’t have to be all of this screaming.’ And I felt like tweeting back, ‘And some not! It’s also okay to be loud and vocal and it’s beautiful.’ In the end, it is beautiful and everyone has their own path to birth.”

There’s a key moment of connection in there between Teddy and Owen, too. “What I love is when they both say the name of Allison simultaneously because that’s also very indicative of their relationship, of them being just very connected.”

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Tempting Fate premieres tonight at 8/7c on Lifetime. Watch the trailer:

Check out all of our coverage of theATX Television Festival right here.There is plenty more to come!

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