The longest-running primetime medical drama is back this fall with a new set of residents and even bigger stakes. Though leading actress Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey) is ready for the show to come to an end, Grey's Anatomy is returning to ABC with new cast members and stories next month.
Created by Shonda Rhimes, the show initially followed a group of surgical interns on their journeys of finding a specialization and learning the ropes. Only one member of that group is still a part of the cast today. Now the series has expanded to include a variety of doctors, a rotating group of residents, and notable side characters that always seem to come back at the most inopportune times.
With the tumultuous season audiences just watched, what can we expect to happen now? Will the runaway doctors come home? Will Meredith finally get to move on from Seattle? Will our favorite surgeons and residents be returning? Here's what we know so far.
Grey's Anatomy Season 19: The Plot
Season 18 ended on a pretty somber note. After a season spent fighting the accreditation board for their surgical residency program, in addition to major events like a blood shortage, dealing with hate crimes, and a variety of studies, Chief of Surgery Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) was informed that their certification was being pulled: Grey-Sloan can no longer be matched with surgical residents. While disappointing, it isn't surprising considering the other events that played out.
The last season saw Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) finally start to do something for herself. Her work with Parkinson's Disease is making big waves, giving her even more name recognition than her Harper Avery did and offering her the chance of a lab to do even more projects. The only catch is she'd have to move to Minnesota. Meredith is ready to make that change and move on from Grey-Sloan. That is taken from her, especially in the final episode. While the rest of her peers and colleagues are leaving, Meredith has been handed the keys to the hospital and told she's the new Chief of Surgery with very little say in the matter.
Over the course of twenty episodes, Bailey has decided to take a break, Richard (James Pickens Jr.) and Catherine (Debbie Allen) are going on a sabbatical, Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy (Kim Raver) have had to make a run for it to keep from being arrested, and Dr. Hayes (Richard Flood) left to return to Ireland for similar reasons. This has left Grey-Sloan short on doctors, which is part of why their residency program was shut down and caused Meredith to stick around longer than anticipated. She struggles with this, demanding in a monologue to know why the rest of her cohort is allowed to leave and move on to the next phase of their career, but she always has to be the one to stay.
Where does that put us with the new season about to start? Even though the residency program has been shut down, new cast members confirmed to be surgical residents are on board. Based on a sneak peek video introducing fans to the new group, it looks like the hospital's residency program is back, but as a second chance for medical students that didn't match with another program.
It also begs the question: what happened to the other residents? There is a shot of Levi (Jake Borelli) in pink scrubs, which could mean he has switched over to obstetrics with Jo (Camilla Luddington). That leaves Tayrn Helm (Jaicy Elliot) in an unknown predicament, but she is listed as a recurring character for the season, so we should get to see where her journey goes.
Grey's Anatomy Season 19: The Cast
Ellen Pompeo is returning as Dr. Meredith Grey, but only for eight episodes. This is part of her intention to pull away from the series and move on to other projects, as reported by Deadline. Additional cast members returning as main characters are Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey, James Pickens Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber, Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt, Caterina Scorsone as Dr. Amelia Shepherd, Camilla Luddington as Dr. Jo Wilson, Kelly McCreary as Dr. Maggie Pierce, Kim Raver as Dr. Teddy Altman, Jake Borelli as Dr. Levi Schmitt, Chris Carmack as Dr. Atticus Lincoln, and Anthony Hill as Dr. Winston Ndugu. The recurring cast includes Jaicy Elliot as Dr. Taryn Helm, Scott Speedman as Dr. Nick Marsh, and Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery. Walsh was in a few episodes last season, with Variety confirming her official return to the series in September.
It isn't clear if E.R. Fightmaster will be returning in their role as Kai Bartley, a non-binary scientist that is a part of the Parkinson's project. Due to the happy reunion they had with Amelia during the final episode, there's hope we will see them again.
The new cast members, which are all labeled as part of the main cast, are Alexis Floyd (Inventing Anna, The Bold Type) as Dr. Simone Griffith, Niko Terho (The Thing About Harry) as Dr. Lucas Adams, Midori Francis (Ocean's 8, Dash & Lily, The Sex Lives of College Girls) as Dr. Mika Yasuda, Adelaide Kane (Reign, Once Upon a Time) as Dr. Jules Millin, and Harry Shum Jr. (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Shadowhunters) as Dr. Benson "Blue" Kwan.
Release Date
The new season will start airing on ABC on October 6, 2022. While you wait for the new season to start, rewatch the best episodes.