Amy Brenneman, Audra McDonald and Kate Walsh return on the third season of Private Practice.

When we last saw the doctors of ABC’s Private Practice in the second season’s cliffhanger finale, crisis was the operative word. Kate Walsh’s Addison had called it quits with her married man (and delivered his wife’s baby), Audra McDonald’s Naomi was threatening to leave the practice for the rival clinic downstairs, and Amy Brenneman’s pregnant Violet was menaced by a deranged knife-wielding patient intent on stealing her baby. The drama continues on tomorrow’s third-season premiere. So, what’s in store?

Having barely survived, Violet will deal with the aftereffects of her ordeal and, potentially, the loss of her child. To prepare, “I was talking with a therapist about post-traumatic stress,” Brenneman told us during our visit to the set. Clad in a summery maxi-dress, a style she called “Valley mom,” she was glad to be back at work after a fun summer that included five weeks at her Martha’s Vineyard vacation home. “I took a writing workshop and a dance workshop,” she says.

Back in TV mode after “a needed stage fix” doing Twelfth Night in New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park series and a trip to Lake Powell with her boyfriend, her daughter and his kids, McDonald revealed that this will be a year of chaos and upheaval for Naomi. “It’s very bittersweet for her but she knew that she needed to make a change,” McDonald says of her character. “After her divorce she was just treading water. So she goes to the competition downstairs and she’s still in charge, but it’s a whole new environment for her. She has to figure out what her relationships are going to be with everybody now.”

After last season’s angst-filled storyline, Walsh is eager to play the lighter side of Addison this year, at least when it comes to relationships. “From what they tell me, she’s going to be comedically single. We’re trying to get some of the levity back, and maybe in the latter half of the season, she’ll have a crazy, great romantic interest,” Walsh says, looking tan and rested after traveling in Europe and shooting an Oceana PSA for sea turtle conservation in the Bahamas this summer. (For details on Walsh’s fitness transformation, check out the September/October issue of VIVmag.)

Walsh reflected on the evolution of Addison, from the ex-wife who came between Meredith and Derek on Grey’s Anatomy to the vulnerable, sympathetic character who merited her own spinoff show. “There are many more layers of Addison to come,” she promises, noting the addition of some new female writers to the show. “I’m excited to see where we go.”

We love shows that feature strong, multidimensional characters. What’s your favorite drama this season?

Photo credit: Vivian Zink/ABC

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