Summary

• Teddy survives the Grey's Anatomy season 19 cliffhanger, but the experience changes her and affects her relationships with Owen and other surgeons.
• Keeping Teddy on for season 20 was the right call, as she is a legacy character and crucial to the show's dynamics and relationships.
• Teddy's close call will deepen her relationship with Owen, offering a welcome evolution of their long-running connection.

Grey's Anatomy season 20 showrunner Meg Marinis discusses Teddy's fate after the season 19 cliffhanger. The finale, which aired back in May 2023, showed Teddy (Kim Raver) dealing with a seemingly minor toothache for much of the episode. However, in the final moments, it became clear it was something much worse as she collapsed in the OR with her fate up in the air.

Ahead of the Grey's Anatomy season 20 premiere, Marinis spoke with TVLine about what to expect in the new episodes. She revealed that Teddy survives season 19's cliffhanger, also offering a few teases about what will happen in the aftermath:

[The experience] is absolutely going to change her. That’s part of the reason to tell the story, right? To see what it brings out in the character. We’ve seen Owen have a life-and-death situation, but we haven’t seen Teddy recently have one. So like it would with anyone, it has an impact on her relationship with Owen, as well as with patients and how she treats other surgeons. It’s not going to be one of those things where she recovers and forgets.

Killing Teddy Would Have Been a Mistake for Grey's Anatomy

Marinis' confirmation isn't a massive surprise, as news broke just hours before the season finale that Raver would be back as a series regular for Teddy's fate set in stone ahead of the premiere. The show made the right call in keeping her for a few reasons.

For one, the number of cast from the show's early days has dwindled in recent years, especially with Ellen Pompeo appearing in fewer episodes. Teddy is very much a legacy character at this point, making her first appearance in 2009. While Grey's has become adept at establishing new characters and quickly turning them into favorites, the show still relies on the familiarity its older characters offer longtime viewers.

Along the same lines, Teddy and Owen have one of the show's longest-running relationships. While it's been tumultuous throughout, season 19 finally saw them in a steady place, and it would have been a shame for Grey's Anatomy to lose that dynamic in the new season. Based on Marinis' comments, Teddy's close call will deepen their connection further, in a welcome evolution of their relationship.

Source: TVLine

Grey's Anatomy season 20 premieres Thursday, March 14 at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.