SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 23 premiere of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.
Time did not stand still at Grey Sloan as Grey’s Anatomy returned with its first time jump between seasons in four years. The Season 23 premiere picked up a month after the events in the Season 22 finale. It introduced the finished VIP floor and Seth Norton, played by new recurring cast member James Wolk, a handsome, arrogant surgeon-turned-businessman whose company Olympic Regent Health backed the luxury medical suite. His focus on the bottom line immediately clashed with Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) compassion, putting the two on a collision course as Norton was revealed at the end of the episode as Grey Sloan’s new Chief of Surgery, Teddy’s (Kim Raver) old job.
There was no trace in the premiere of Nick (Scott Speedman) or mention of his engagement to Meredith in the S22 finale and no update on Teddy and Owen (Kevin McKidd) an their new life in France.
At the end of last season, Simone (Alexis Floyd) was faced with Wes (Trevor Jackson) vs. Lucas (Niko Terho) dilemma after the former suggested making their casual relationship official and she had a drunken hookup with the latter. A month later, she is with Wes (and has a new hairstyle) but somehow cannot stop running into shirtless (and sometimes fully unclothed) Lucas. In one of the episode’s big twists, Simone discovered she is pregnant.
Ben (Jason George) is still being a gentleman and has not ratted out Winston (Anthony Hill) to Bailey (Chandra Wilson) having a relationship with an intern, Jules (Adelaide Kane), giving Winston another chance to come clean himself. By the end of the premiere, Jules and Winston find themself in an even bigger predicament when Bailey, trying to delegate more so she can pursue a Masters degree, makes Winston residency director — and Jules’ direct boss.
Kwan aka Blue (Harry Shum Jr.) is still fired and “self employed.” He returned secretly to Grey Sloan to save the life of his online French teacher with Simone’s help. Jo (Camilla Luddington) appeared fine and back at work but a coding patient triggered painful memories and, in the final seconds of the episode, she told Link (Chris Carmack) that she had quit her job. Just moments prior, Link had swiped some of Jo’s old pain meds as his addiction issues seem to only be getting bigger.
Amelia’s (Caterina Scorsone) and Toni (Jen Landon)’s ongoing tension following Amelia’s dalliance with Cass (Sophia Bush) in the S22 finale blew up in a public fight over a patient’s care. The two ultimately reconciled and got back together.
In an interview with Deadline, Grey’s Anatomy executive producer/showrunner Meg Marinis addressed the decision to introduce a time jump and a new antagonist played by Wolk as well as Pompeo and Scott Speedman’s availability, and broke down the episode’s biggest twists, including Simone’s pregnancy, Jo’s resignation, Toni & Amelia’s shenanigans, and Winston & Jules’ new dynamic.
The Texas native also provided an update on the rural Texas-set spinoff she is co-creating with Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, which has a straight-to-series order for midseason.
DEADLINE: This was the first time jump since Grey’s introduced the new interns at the start of Season 22. Why did you decide to do it?
MARINIS: It always allows a little bit more flexibility and storytelling, and I wanted to do something different, but also it allowed us to be able to creatively build that VIP floor, because obviously we didn’t see that VIP floor in the finale, and so yes, that is behind the decision-making. And also I didn’t know if I was going to be able to have Scott Speedman because of R.J. Decker, and we left him in a hospital bed, so that would have been a little bit tricky.
DEADLINE: Scott’s Nick and Meredith got engaged in the Season 22 finale but she is not wearing a ring in the premiere. Is the engagement still on? It wasn’t even mentioned.
MARINIS: Well, the engagement is still on. Meredith Grey has never really worn a ring, even when she was with Derek. So she’s not necessarily a ring wearer, but that’s not to say that once they get married they may have wedding bands. We’ll pick up that story though, don’t worry.
DEADLINE: What does the Season 2 renewal of Scott’s show R.J. Decker mean in terms of his availability? Will you be able to have him on at all this season?
MARINIS: Yes, we will see Nick. Obviously scheduling is always tricky, but good thing is it’s the same family with the show, so they help us out a little bit. But yeah, it’s tricky because they don’t shoot here, so it takes a bit of logistical magic, but yes, we’ll see him. [Both Grey’s and R.J. Decker are produced by 20th TV for ABC, filming in California and North Carolina, respectively.]
DEADLINE: Was James Wolk’s character introduced because you knew you wouldn’t have Scott Speedman for long or did you just need to have another person in Meredith’s life?
MARINIS: He was introduced as someone for the whole hospital, not necessarily just to play off of Meredith. He’s going to be the source of this conflict between this new floor and the rest of the hospital, and how our other characters play off of that. In particular, we’ll see Richard and how he feels about working side by side with someone who doesn’t really know… That’s the craziest thing, we haven’t had a chief like this who isn’t part of the hospital to begin with, so he’s essentially a stranger to a lot of our people, and he may not see the interpersonal dynamics that everybody else has.
DEADLINE: But Seth and Meredith will continue to interact, even if it’s not romantic, right? There was something about them together in the premiere.
MARINIS: You’ll see them together again. Nick is the romantic partner but it’s always nice to, I feel like Meredith fights all of our battles for us. She’s the one that always says the thing that we’re always thinking but can’t say, and so we’ll see her say some of that to Seth.
DEADLINE: And Nick is fully recovered after the accident, right?
MARINIS: He’s doing great.
DEADLINE: Meredith was in the premiere before leaving for Boston. How many episodes is Ellen in this season?
MARINIS: We don’t have an exact number because we always need to wait to see how our schedule is. But don’t worry, that’s not the last you’ve seen her. You’ll see her several times.
MIA Doctors: Teddy, Owen & Kwan
DEADLINE: There was only a fleeting reference to Teddy and Owen in the premiere as Winston complained that he has to pick up their cases but no mention how they’re doing in France.
MARINIS: Because it’s been a month in story time, I think it’s a little odd to keep talking about them, but man, do we miss them? And I miss the actors too. It does feel like there are missing doctors in the hospital, and I did not want for the hospital to seem like they replaced them already, so that’s kind of what Winston is talking about, he’s having to cover for them, and it’s wreaking havoc.
DEADLINE: Speaking of missing doctors, Kwan is still fired a month later. He said he’s self-employed in the French class. What is he doing as self-employed?
MARINIS: He was just saying that to cover himself with his class. But no, he’s unemployed, and I think he’s a little bit in denial and saying that he likes being unemployed, but we know that’s not real. He definitely misses it.
DEADLINE: How has it been sharing Shum Jr. with Dancing? Did you have to reduce his presence on Grey’s this season?
MARINIS: No, we didn’t have to reduce his presence at all. We haven’t adjusted creative yet because Blue is such an important part of the show. Obviously, it can get tricky scheduling, but we knew about this going into it, we had everything on the table at the start of the season. We know which day and a half that they always need him, and we’ve been able to make it work. He’s practicing here, he’s rehearsing outside the stages with his partner. He will tape [Dancing] on Tuesday night and be here at 6:15 the next morning.
DEADLINE: Aren’t you concerned that Shum Jr.’s Dancing video packages showing him wearing scrubs on the hospital set of Grey’s spoiled any suspence over Blue’s firing, revealing that he will be back at Grey Sloan?
MARINIS: I feel like after watching the premiere, people will know that somehow he’s going to get folded back in. It’s the how is what we’ll discover.
DEADLINE: Any chance of Harry dancing on Grey’s?
MARINIS: Well, now you know I’m gonna want it.
Who’s the Daddy?
DEADLINE: Simone’s surprise pregnancy. We saw Wes and Simone in the premiere being careful about condom use. Does that automatically mean Lucas is the dad because he and Simone’s hookup was unplanned or are we going to have another Who’s the daddy mystery like the one with Amelia’s baby?
MARINIS: It does not automatically mean it is Lucas. It is a big old question, and it’s messy, and I guess yes, we did it with Amelia, but this is just as fun, and it’s going to play out differently. She’s an amazing surgeon, but when it comes to her personal life, Simone’s a little bit messy.
DEADLINE: So we won’t find out right away, the mystery will carry on for awhile?
MARINIS: Yeah, I don’t know how you find out.
DEADLINE: Simone can count the dates, I guess.
MARINIS: It was all happening at once, so it’s pretty tricky.
Jo’s Relapse
DEADLINE: I’m glad that you did a course correction on Jo because she seemed too well adjusted at the start of the premiere for someone who was spiraling post-trauma a month ago. We saw that all unravel after she watched a patient being cut open. Was that the trigger for her?
MARINIS: We’ll come to understand more specifically in later episodes what her actual triggers are, but, after suffering an almost death experience, when she sees other people doing the same, for me that is that is a trigger. Obviously that person, their chest was cut open, her chest was cut open, so she has that same exact scar, things like that. I just think that it’s seeing people at that pivotal point of, if they’re going to make it or not make it, that coding experience. That elevator was definitely a trigger.
DEADLINE: Was Jo quitting just an emotional reaction to a bad day at the hospital that she would overcome or will it play out longer with her staying away from Grey Sloan?
MARINIS: It will, being at the hospital in a regular employed fashion, she won’t be there. I mean, she might be at the hospital, but not working shifts every day like she was in the past. This definitely plays out. It’s not in Episode 2, she’s back in scrubs.
DEADLINE: Is this a similar situation to when Amelia took a sabbatical after another traumatic experience at Grey Sloan that translated into Caterina going an an extended hiatus. Will Camilla be in fewer episodes this season?
MARINIS: No, that is not the situation. This is a creative decision where we wanted to play the reality of what Jo went through, and you’ll see the impact of that on her not being at work, and whether or not she regrets the decision or whether she’s reaffirmed in the decision, we’ll that play out.
DEADLINE: So nobody will have significantly reduced episodes this year, right?
MARINIS: We always have to kind of wait and see, but right now things are looking fairly normal.
DEADLINE: With Jo sidelined, Kwan fired and Teddy and Owen in France, the hospital is four doctors down. Are you planning any other major additions to Grey Sloan’s medical/surgical staff this season besides James’ Seth and Jen’s Toni?
MARINIS: No, James Wolk and Jen Landon are our recurring guest surgeons right now.
Amelia & Toni Kiss and Make Up
DEADLINE: Jen’s Toni and Amelia had a happy ending in the premiere after the heartbreaker of the finale. Yes, a month passed but I feel like you got them back together a little too quickly.
MARINIS: I need joy, Nellie.
DEADLINE: I think Toni was very forgiving, one short speech by Amelia, and that’s all it took.
MARINIS: Well, it’s so funny. It was such a debate in the writers room because we were like, oh my gosh, Amelia slept with somebody else, Toni can’t forgive her. But then, Toni was kind of toying with her at the end there, am I going to get back together with my ex, am I not going to get back together with my ex? It’s not that Amelia went into that to cheat on her, it was she was trying to dull the pain that she felt that Toni was going with her ex-wife, and so it’s a bit of a misunderstanding. They’re just so great for each other, and I think also, when you lose a patient together, things change.
We’ll see if they can stay happy or not as the episodes play out, but I really love them as a couple, they have great chemistry.
DEADLINE: They lost a patient but I’m not sure if they didn’t contribute to that with their fight in the OR over treatment that may have proven costly. It was highly inappropriate too, in front of their colleagues, that was not the place for that.
MARINIS: No, of course not. But that’s what Grey’s is, right? We bring our problems to work.
DEADLINE: BTW, we saw Toni fly back in the premiere. Was she gone from Seattle for the entire month after the finale?
MARINIS: I don’t know if she left immediately right after the finale, but she’s been gone for at least a few weeks.
Winston & Jules Cross New Line
DEADLINE: Winston and Jules’ relationship for me has always been crossing a line. But the show is now creating a new obstacle that makes it very, very problematic with Winston appointed residency director. How will that impact them?
MARINIS: We’re definitely going to play that out so you’re going to see where that goes immediately with Episode 2, how they have to navigate this new dynamic with him being her direct supervisor. And you’re right, it is now like, we crossed the line, and now we’re looking back, waving at it. It’s putting a whole other layer on it, whether or not they can stay together, and if they do stay together, how do they come forward? It’s going to be messy, and there’s going to be conflict, and they might not agree on it.
DEADLINE: How about Ben, keeping Winston and Jules’ secret for a month? Is that a moot point now or is it a Chekhov’s Gun situation where the gun (aka the secret) hangs on the wall for awhile until it eventually goes off?
MARINIS: It’s that one.
Texas Spinoff Status Update
DEADLINE: What is the status of the Grey’s Anatomy Texas spinoff? There has been casting chatter, and I heard start of production was pushed from fall to January. How is it shaping up, and are you currently casting?
MARINIS: We are currently working hard on it. I’m just grateful that I get to create this with Shonda, it’s a dream. We’re working hard, and we’re working away, and I’m learning a lot about developing and creating a show, which I didn’t know before. I can’t release anything yet on timing, but I’m excited for y’all to see it.
DEADLINE: How is it doing it with Shonda?
MARINIS: Oh, it’s amazing. It’s one thing to be able to work for her but to be able to do it with her it’s really fun. She spins everything into gold; you send something to her and then she sends it back and it’s amazing. It’s really fun, I haven’t been able to work like this with her in a while, she’s branched out and gotten so many shows, so it’s it’s really fun. We have a great relationship.
DEADLINE: We are going to see characters from the spinoff on Grey’s this season, right?
MARINIS: We’re still figuring out which episode, but yeah, just, traditionally with a spinoff [that’s done]. We’re still working out on timing.
Season 23 Theme & Possible Returns
DEADLINE: What is the theme of Season 23? Is it about concierge medicine and money’s role in medicine overall?
MARINIS: It’s related to that, but honestly, I’ve been looking at identity as a theme, and that’s being reflected in that concierge floor. People have very different opinions on it, on how to treat patients and what kind of doctors they’re going to be, so it’s really about identity and when the world is in a state of rapid change, do you change with it or do you stay true to yourself? I feel like a lot of the stories this season involve our characters being in one spot while the world is just furiously spinning around us, which I think we all have a little bit of experience in right now. Whether it’s AI, whether it’s climate, things are happening so quickly. It’s really hard to know what day it is.
DEADLINE: Any chance of Kim Raver or Kevin McKidd coming back for a visit? Or any other former cast members? There were not that many alum returns last season and none in the premiere.
MARINIS: We’re always open to bringing back old characters. One of the joys of having a Season 23 show is that you get to do that, and it’s also such a great gift to the fans. It always just depends on how much room we have creatively and people’s schedules because people leave the show and they go on to take other jobs, and it just gets tricky. But I’m always keeping my eye on ways to introduce people to come back for a show or two.
DEADLINE: Any plans to make this the final season of Grey’s?
MARINIS: Oh my gosh, no one’s told me that, so I’m gonna keep on doing what I’m doing.