‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Showrunner On Surprise Proposal, Shocking Cliffhangers

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 22 finale of Grey’s Anatomy.

Grey’s Anatomy may have not ended its 22nd season with the typical jaw-dropping cliffhanger in order to send off veteran cast members Kim Raver and Kevin McKidd, but the finale did offer some big twists, leaving most characters’ futures uncertain.

In a classic Grey’s bait and switch, while the focus early on was on Owen (McKidd) possibly being hurt (or worse) in the bridge collapse, it was Nick (Scott Speedman) who was in fact badly injured. He required a difficult emergency surgery, performed by suspended Bailey (Chandra Wilson) upon Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) request.

Shaken up by the experience, Meredith proposed to Nick while he was lying in his hospital bed, a throwback to their first meeting when Nick was admitted to Grey Sloan with a failing kidney in Season 14. He said yes, an answer he apparently had had ready since that fateful first encounter.

In another Grey’s tradition, the finale also included a jaw-dropping WTF moment. Toni (Jen Landon), after some soul-searching over her ex-wife’s appeal to get back together, went to Amelia’s (Caterina Scorsone) apartment to tell her that she had broken it off with her ex and was falling in love with her only to find out that Amelia had hooked up with Cass (Sophia Bush). (Cass had popped in at Grey Sloan earlier in the day to help with the influx of patients from the bridge collapse.)

In other developments, Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) is still fired. He tried to get back on Richard’s (James Pickens Jr.) good graces by helping with injured patients but that didn’t work.

New couple Winston and Jules’ secret relationship is no more (secret) after they were intercepted sneaking out of an on-call room by Ben (Jason George), a newly minted plastics fellow. New mom Jo (Camilla Luddington) is facing an existential crisis and may not be a doctor anymore while her supportive husband Link’s (Chris Carmack) dependance on painkillers is becoming worrisome.

Bailey, defying her suspension to help save Nick, is considering a career change of her own as she plans to go for a Masters in public health. And the Simone (Alexis Floyd)-Lucas (Nike Terho)-Wes (Trevor Jackson) love triangle, which had been dormant for most of the season, came back in full force after Simone and Lucas slept together and Wes asked her to go steady.

Below, Grey’s Anatomy executive producer/showrunner Meg Marinis is breaking down all non-Owen & Teddy developments in the finale and how they would carry over to Season 23, including potential other cast departures and Speedman’s status as his ABC series R.J. Decker is yet to be renewed (but is looking good). For her explanation of McKidd and Kim Raver’s exit and the reasons behind it, read Part 1 of Deadline’s interview.

Meredith & Nick: Meet Cute Redo

DEADLINE: Meredith and Nick recreated their first encounter for the surprise proposal. How did you settle on that and why did she pop the question?

MARINIS: Well, Meredith has always been pretty clear that she didn’t want to get married again after Derek. In truth, she didn’t really want to get married to Derek, they did that in the end because of trying to make sure that they could have the best chances at adopting Zola.

And so I think marriage is not something that is ingrained in her, but clearly, when she heard the story of how he wanted to get married in the middle of the season, when his sister came to visit, and how his sister had taken away this happy life from him, I think that got put in the back of her mind that that is something that he’d always wanted, but he’s such a nice guy, he loves her so much that he’s never going to force her to do anything, especially since she had such a painful ending to her first marriage.

I think she’s also scared that if she ever got married again, what if she lost him like it happened with Derek? And I think when she realized that you’re going to have that fear no matter what, why not do it? I told Ellen at the beginning of this season, I was like, I want to end with a proposal. And she was like, ‘Agh’. I was like, I do, I do.

So it was something that I’ve been planning since the beginning of the season, and it was very seeded with that middle episode between the two of them. I obviously don’t know the fate of R.J. Decker. I haven’t heard anything. And so it was a very small window that we got Scott to come and film in L.A. and so it worked out that, okay, if we can get him in a hospital bed and put him on the table, then we can utilize as much time with Scott that we had. It was kind of a perfect scenario.

DEADLINE: You took a leap of fate with the proposal not knowing whether the actor playing the groom-to-be would be available next season. Will it depend on R.J. Decker’s fate how much we will see of Scott on Grey’s next year?

MARINIS: For sure, it will depend on if R.J. Decker goes, and I hope it does for Scott. But he was so game, he flew in on a Friday, we filmed on a Saturday, and we worked it out. He was being part of the Grey’s family. And so we’ll just have to figure out if we can plan in advance with the other show and work it out again.

DEADLINE: Are you planning a big wedding? We know Meredith is not keen on the idea but a wedding would bring people back. We haven’t seen many Grey’s alumni for awhile; I feel this season was one of the lightest in terms of cast returns.

MARINIS: You know, I don’t, it all really kind of depends on Scott’s schedule and what we decide creatively. I do not think Meredith is a big wedding person, but we’ll just have to see.

DEADLINE: And in terms of returns, was it intentional that you had fewer people coming back vs previous seasons?

MARINIS: No. When we realized that we needed to exit two characters we wanted to spend the most time on the characters that we have currently.

Ben & Kwan: One Rising & One Leaving?

DEADLINE: We know about Kim Raver and Kevin McKidd but are other cast members leaving too? For example, Harry Shum Jr. whose character Kwan was fired twice in the last two episodes?

MARINIS: His fate is still undecided. Blue is scared out of his mind, so we’ll just have to see when we come back in the fall. He doesn’t have a job at Grey Sloan right now, so we’ll have to see what happens to him.

DEADLINE: There was this interesting look on Catherine’s face when Richard kicked Blue out in the finale. It felt like she was persuadable.

MARINIS: It’s kind of a different shade on Catherine, it’s nice.

DEADLINE: Just to reiterate, of the series regulars, no one except Kevin and Kim are leaving, right?

MARINIS: We’ll always have to wait to see who shows up in Season 23.

DEADLINE: We’ve talked about Ben floating around, trying to find himself since returning to Grey Sloan. He just got this fellowship; has he now settled?

MARINIS: I think he’s as settled as Ben Warren can be. But yes, I’m interested in seeing him follow this fellowship and wear those navy scrubs and be looked at someone who has authority now. That was really important to me this season, to bring him out of Bailey’s shadow, to give him a mentor who doesn’t also see him as someone who’s had a bunch of different jobs.

She’s just meeting him for the first time as Ben Warren, someone who’s interested in plastics, and so she doesn’t know all the history necessarily. And I think he really is proving himself. I think that was a really powerful story in Episode 17 last week for him, where he saved Maya. He did great work and saved your life and he really deserves those navy scrubs.

Bailey & Richard: OGs 4ever

DEADLINE: What about Grey’s veterans Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr.? Would Bailey’s plan for a degree in public health impact how much she will be on the show next season? And Richard had cancer. Are there any plans for him to scale back? Seems like he’s in every episode.

MARINIS: He is in every episode. And those two are our OGs that are the pillars of the show. I do not envision a world where I can scale back on seeing either of them. Just due to the creative, we may be seeing Bailey in a different capacity, though.

Toni & Amelia: She Did What?!

DEADLINE: You added Jen Landon as plastic surgeon Toni this season. We got this crazy cliffhanger with her and Amelia at the end that opens up two possibilities for Toni next season, her leaving after what happened or her being promoted to series regular. Which one is it?

MARINIS: Well, I love Jen Landon, and we were so lucky to get her and have her, and I think she really enjoyed her time here. Also, her character brings a really great side to Ben Warren, I love their working relationship. She’s this quirky plastic surgeon that we don’t really have a character like her anywhere else, and I would love to have her back. I don’t know if I would use the word promote, because we are in a different time in our industry with the budget, but I would love to have her come back as much as we can.

DEADLINE: Speaking of the surprising cliffhanger, where did this seemingly random Amelia and Cass hookup come from? And what does it mean for Amelia and Toni who had just poured her heart out to her?

MARINIS: I think Amelia truly felt like Toni was going back to her wife, and I think she was really sad about it. She had an emotional day with Meredith, and this pretty woman asked if she wanted to get coffee after a long day. I know it all happened off screen, but we love the surprise at the end.

Obviously, Sophia Bush’s character is married, she’s in an open marriage, so I don’t think Sophia Bush’s character has left her husband or anything. I just think this is more of now Amelia has gotten herself into a little bit of trouble. I think she wants to be with Toni, and I think she was just trying to make herself feel better because she thought she had been rejected. And so, what we have to look for in the future is, can Toni overlook it? Does Amelia need to work her way back or do they have to work together and deny their chemistry while Toni’s repairing her feelings? We’ll just have to wait and see but they’re a great match.

Winston & Jules: Dangerous Liaison

DEADLINE: When we spoke about the power dynamic issue in the Winston and Jules relationship last year, you noted that a lot has changed since Meredith and Derek and that some things that were considered appropriate at the time are not anymore. Yet, you went with the storyline. Why? And what will the repercussions be of them being discovered by Ben? As Winston said when he professed his love to Jules, “I could be fired for everything I’m about to say.”

MARINIS: Well, we didn’t see Ben tell Bailey, but you know that that’s going to happen at one point, so I think their little happy bubble will probably be popped, and I think that it’s just going to depend. I mean, Bailey, she’s married to someone who technically was a resident, so we’re just going to have to see how, if it’s hypocritical, for someone to say something. But I think people will have a lot to say about it once they find out that, yes, that was the cliffhanger of, oh no, now everything he was worried about could possibly happen.

DEADLINE: But why did you decide to pursue that? And why did Winston do it? There was attraction….

MARINIS: They’re in love, Nellie. He couldn’t deny it. He tried so long. It was two seasons.

DEADLINE: Okay, it’s Grey’s, love wins and trumps rules, I guess.

MARINIS: But these days we have repercussions, so we’ll have to see what those are.

Jo & Link: Breaking Point

DEADLINE: Jo is spiraling, she doesn’t even know if she wants to be any doctor anymore, let alone OB or surgeon. Is her internal crisis triggered by postpartum or is she genuinely not sure about her future?

MARINIS: I think it’s a little bit in both. I think when you go through something like postpartum, there’s a little bit of I don’t know what my life should look like, what brings me happiness anymore and what brings me down? I think that it’s something that we really were interested in talking about a lot of times, our characters go through really big health scares, and then in two episodes, they moved along just fine.

But I think in particular, especially with mothers and difficult deliveries, no one really talks about that, and it’s a disservice. And especially, just talking to so many people about maternal mortality, everyone always thinks, Oh, if the mom and the babies are saved, it’s a happy ending.

Well, yes, it’s a happy ending, but you don’t know the emotional burden that people go through after. We heard from this doctor, and I said, this is too powerful a story not to tell and to let women know that it’s okay that you’re feeling like this.

And I think, with the career aspect of it, her trigger is her job, because she’s seeing other women go through it. It’s just, can she maintain that or not? is the big question.

DEADLINE: And you don’t have an answer right now?

MARINIS: Not for you.

DEADLINE: And Link, we’d seen from the beginning of the season where this was headed as he seems to be popping more and more painkillers. Is this going to escalate next season?

MARINIS: Yes, we’ll definitely deal with the aftermath of this. He also went through such a big health scare at the beginning of this season, and he’s tried to power through the best he can for Jo. He’s someone who really prides himself on his strength and being there for his partner and his kids. And so I don’t think it’s an option for him to be weak and to not take care of them.

We’ll have to look at that. When both members of a couple are going through something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one person has to power through. It’s okay. I think we’re telling a different story about having to turn to medication to numb, I don’t think it’s going to look like the stereotypical abuse of medication that a lot of other shows and movies have done. I think it’s going to be more nuanced.

Simone, Lucas & Wes: Three’s Company

DEADLINE: Why did you decide to reignite the love triangle between Lucas, Simone and Wes with a big, classic Grey’s finale cliffhanger?

MARINIS: Well, I think we put Lucas through it this season with his emotional patient story, Katie. And in that storyline, I think we saw him grow up a lot. I think we saw him grow as a doctor. And I also think Niko Terho had some of his best performances this year.

He really went through it with Simone when Katie died. And for Simone, she definitely has feelings to sort out. Wes has been such a casual thing, and he stated that from the very beginning. And also, he’s an intern, she’s a second year, and I think she had always thought that this was just fun, I don’t think she ever thought it was necessarily going to be more than that.

And then suddenly, when he’s opening up to her and the finale and saying, Would you want to hang out more?, It’s like, oh, this kind of throws her wrench, because it’s a great looking guy, and he’s clearly a hard working doctor, and you’ve got some pain that she’s seen a little bit about his brother. And then she thought that Lucas was just a one night thing, because that’s what they said, it was mistakes. I think she’s confused. I don’t think she thought both of these options were on the table.

New Interns: We Barely Know You

DEADLINE: Grey’s introduced a couple of new interns this season but none of them made an impression. Dani had a very memorable first day, but then kind of disappeared. There was a young guy who barely had a couple of lines, two lines.

MARINIS: Harrison Meade, yeah.

DEADLINE: Any any plans for them to come back?

MARINIS: I’d love to see them come back. They really were fun characters to interact with ours. I think just in the last two episodes we had a lot of creative ground to cover with our regulars.