Grey’s Anatomy premiered on ABC in 2005 as a mid-season replacement, but it was so well-received, it has lived on for over 15 seasons and continues to be unstoppable. The show has become the longest scripted primetime series carried by ABC, and while its quality has decreased through the years, it still has a solid fanbase.
Grey’s Anatomy follows the basic premise of medical dramas, focusing on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they do their best to juggle their professional and personal lives, which often overlap and make way for a lot of drama inside and outside the hospital. The series is led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who viewers have seen go from intern to Head of General Surgery at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Through her, the audience has met a variety of characters over the course of 17 seasons, of which most have left the show for different reasons, but even those who were killed at some point returned in season 17 in Meredith’s dreams when she was battling COVID. Grey’s Anatomy will continue bringing characters back in season 18, hinting that this could be the show’s final season.
Meredith’s dreams allowed the return of fan-favorite characters Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), and Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), with Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) also showing up following his death earlier in season 17 after being stabbed. Now, Grey’s Anatomy is confirmed to continue with an 18th season, and a couple of returning characters have already been revealed, and these include both characters that have already died (like all those who ed Meredith at the beach) and some who are still alive and left Seattle Grace many seasons ago. Between all of Meredith’s loved ones at the beach in season 17 and the ones returning in season 18, Grey’s Anatomy could be preparing the audience for a very emotional goodbye.
The characters confirmed to return in Grey’s Anatomy season 18 so far are Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh), Megan Hunt (Abigail Spencer), and Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), Meredith’s mother. Addison made her first appearance in Grey’s Anatomy season 1 and left in season 8, but went on to star in the spinoff series Private Practice; Megan Hunt is Owen Hunt’s (Kevin McKidd) sister who was missing for ten years and treated at Grey Sloan after she was rescued, as she had a massive abdominal wound, and once she healed, she moved to Los Angeles; Ellis Grey was Meredith’s abusive mother and a famous surgeon, who also had an affair with Richard Webber, and she died in season 3, though she continued to appear sporadically through the rest of the series. It’s not uncommon for TV shows to bring back popular characters for their final seasons as a way to say goodbye to their audience, and that’s exactly what seasons 17 and 18 are doing, with the most notable returns being those of Derek, George, and Ellis, the latter possibly returning to give one final piece of advice or words of encouragement to Meredith, as her career could be taking a turn if the show is to end with season 18.
By the end of Grey’s Anatomy after season 18, but it wouldn’t be surprising if this is revealed to be the final season.