‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Has Officially Been Renewed for Season 20
It's 2023, and in a few weeks Grey's Anatomy will turn 18 years old, meaning the long-running medical drama will be old enough to vote and serve in the military. But will it make it to legal drinking age? With the second installment of season 19* airing on ABC tonight and some adorable new interns stirring the pot at Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital, here's everything you need to know about whether Grey's Anatomy is coming back again for season 20. Surely it can keep on going for a couple more years to hit that milestone... right?
*Yes, that math means once upon a time there were two seasons of Grey's in one year. That year was 2005. It was glorious.
Gimme the diagnosis: Has Grey's been renewed for season 20?
After months and months of uncertainty, Grey's Anatomy's future is finally coming into focus. On Friday, March 24, news broke that Grey's Anatomy has officially been renewed for a 20th (!!!) season. As Variety points out, this means the show will continue its reign as the longest-running medical drama in TV history (not too shabby).
Are any big changes coming to Grey's Anatomy behind-the-scenes?
When Grey's returns for season 20, it will be with a new showrunner. According to THR, Longtime series executive producer Meg Marinis will be stepping up and taking the helm as the iconic drama's new showrunner (replacing Krista Vernoff, who is leaving her role as showrunner for both Grey's and its spinoff, Station 19, at the end of their current seasons).
Meg is the opposite of a Grey's newbie, for the record. She's been with the show since season 3 and has fully worked her way up the ranks—she started out as a writers' assistant and medical researcher and got promoted up the ladder. She officially got promoted to executive producer four years ago and has written more than 25 episodes, and with experience like that, it's not hard to see why she was ABC's pick to take over as showrunner.
Who will be in Grey's Anatomy season 20?
We already know that Ellen Pompeo is quiet quitting scaling back her involvement, according to Deadline. She won't be in as much of season 19, and therefore likely won't be in much of season 20. But what about all the new interns? Are you loving them? Harry Shum Jr., Adelaide Kane, Alexis Floyd, Niko Terho, and Midori Francis all joined the show in season 19. It's not the first time the show has gotten a ton of new characters at once, and it won't be the last.
Plus, we still have Bailey, Richard, Owen, Amelia, Jo, Maggie, Jackson, Addison, and a handful of other familiar faces in the main, recurring, and guest cast. This isn't a full reboot or anything. This isn't even like that one random season of Scrubs with Dave Franco.
Should I have worried????
We never really thought so. The people love medical dramas, and Grey's has been such a consistent comfort for a full generation of fans. With the new characters and the old, there will be plenty of storylines to follow into future seasons (even beyond season 20) if fans (and ABC) are up for it.
Ellen gave Deadline an optimistic "we'll see" about the show's future past season 19 back in October and seemed confident the show would be "just fine" without her in the main character role all the time. She's still an exec producer and is still doing the voiceover, after all. "I’m going to always be a part of that show," she said. "It’s my heart and soul, and I’ll never truly be gone as long as that show’s on the air.” In the same Deadline piece, ABC exec Simran Sethi also seemed optimistic but reiterated that nothing is set in stone yet. "We hope to be in business with Shondaland for a really long time," Sethi said. Okay well, no take-backs!!!!
Is Grey's the longest-running show... ever?
No, but it is, BTW, neck in neck with Lassie for seventh and eighth place in the list of longest-running scripted American primetime television series. (That's a lot of qualifiers, but the longest-running shows in the United States in general are all pretty much sports, news, and daytime soap operas. You gotta narrow it down.) They are behind NCIS, Gunsmoke, Family Guy, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and The Simpsons. It's genuinely so impressive this show has been on for so long. There are less than ten shows in that hyper-specific category to get 20+ seasons, so this renewal would be a BFD for television history!
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