A new season of Grey’s Anatomy is here, and big changes are coming to Grey Sloan! Season 23 begins with the opening of the hospital’s new VIP floor, made possible by funding from health-tech Seth Norton (James Wolk). The surgical staff has about 30 seconds to enjoy the swanky place before a plane crash on the Seattle airport runway sends everyone scurrying to the ambulance bay to handle the trauma.
Apparently, even a plane calamity at a hospital named after two plane-crash victims isn’t enough to keep Seth and Catherine (Debbie Allen) from promising Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) award-winning surgical talent to an insistent VIP patient. That instantly puts Seth on Meredith’s enemies list, and his name is underlined when Catherine and Richard (James Pickens Jr.) announce that Seth is the new Chief of Surgery.
And that’s just the tip of the drama iceberg. Jo (Camilla Luddington) quit after another day of being unable to look at critically ill patients. Link (Chris Carmack) is dealing with his wife’s PTSD with a burgeoning dependence on painkillers for his shoulder. Jules (Addelaide Kane) and Winston (Anthony Hill) were enjoying a blissful honeymoon period in their secret relationship, but it hit the skids when Winston accepted a position as residency director without disclosing that he’s intimately involved with a resident. Meanwhile, Simone (Alexis Floyd) discovers she’s pregnant, a bit of a miracle, but she isn’t sure whether the father is Wes (Trevor Jackson) or Lucas (Niko Terho).
At least Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) is on the right track to happiness? Parade talked to Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis about the hospital’s new villain, our troubled couples, and what kind of Sophie’s choice lies ahead for Simone.
Let’s start with the new VIP floor. Is it all bad news? How is it opening the door for potential stories you haven’t been able to tell before?
Meg Marinis: It’s not all bad news. It’s definitely opening the door to some cases that we haven’t seen before and different types of patients. Medicine is constantly changing. One of the things that has arrived in the last several years is this idea of concierge, or personalized, care. It’s popping up in private hospitals everywhere. I love the conflict that it can serve our characters, but you’re going to find some levity up there as well.
Are you trying to turn the audience against James Wolk? That seems rude.
Marinis: You know what? We are really good at those villains you come to love here on Grey’s Anatomy. Nobody can be turned against James Wolk. He’s fantastic, and he’s a fantastic Seth Norton.
Last season Meredith said she wanted to be in town more to do more surgeries. How does having Seth as the new Chief of Surgery affect that?
Marinis: He’s definitely going to annoy her, but she always puts patient care first. I don’t think the presence of somebody, even if he’s a villain, would ever deter her from her mission of operating and saving lives.
Obviously, he and Meredith are going to have tension. Does anyone else have serious issues with Seth Norton this season?
Marinis: I’d keep my eyes on Richard. He’s been at Grey Sloan a long time. He has seen leadership come and go. He was leadership himself. It’s going to be really interesting to see how he feels about all of this going forward.
Many a Grey Sloan resident has been fired for violating medical ethics. It almost feels like a rite of passage at this point, but what does Kwan’s path to redemption look like this season?
Marinis: It’s not as easy as some of the past residents. It was important to me that he doesn’t come back in the first episode. He comes back to the hospital, but he’s not back on staff because I wanted to show the reality of Richard being really serious. Blue did something very wrong. He might’ve had the right intention, but he still broke the rules. We’re seeing that fallout play out. He’s going to try and make amends, but he has a long road to go because he has to earn that trust back.
Where does this screw up rank between medical insurance fraud and cutting an LVAD wire?
Marinis: It is definitely between there. He illegally injected a substance into a patient. For me, it ranks up there with Meredith tampering with the Alzheimer’s trial.
Blue wants to practice medicine, but isn’t allowed. Jo can practice medicine in multiple fields but can’t stand to be at the hospital. Tell me about her journey this season and what she needs to work through.
Marinis: Her health scare really traumatized her. PTSD after birth trauma affects so many women, and it takes time to process. I wanted to play the reality of that. It’s not something that in a couple of episodes you can fix overnight. We’re going to watch her question her career and through it, how she chooses to parent. She’s definitely a fighter, but it’s going to be personal discovery for her. I also wanted to tell the story that this is a country that does not take care of its postpartum mothers. More attention needs to be paid to supporting them.
She’s so caught up in her own stuff that she can’t see what’s going on with Link. How is Jo quitting adding more to his plate and preventing him from taking care of himself in a responsible way?
Marinis: He’s endured a lot, too, between the explosion and his shoulder injury, and the stress of her pregnancy with the complications. When you list it all out, it sounds kind of funny, but it only added to his stress load. He really hasn’t been able to come up for air, and as a result, he’s pushing his own health and well-being aside. We’ll see whether or not they can open up to each other truthfully about their different pain, and see if they can help each other heal.
He’s really leaning on those painkillers to get him through the day. Why was it important to tell that story?
Marinis: It’s a slippery slope when you have a doctor who is dependent on painkillers, especially someone like Link who prides himself on being a strong guy, and obviously an ortho surgeon. Ortho surgery takes a lot of physical labor. He feels like he has to continue being that person for his patients, as well as being this strong, devoted husband and father to Jo and the kids. What’s interesting to me is that it’s so common for doctors to have a substance abuse issue, whether it’s alcohol, pills, or anything. What they see and have to do every day, they have to find ways to cope with that stress. Unfortunately, Link is dealing with it this way. Again, I want to play the reality of what it takes to come back from an injury this severe.
Sleeping with Cass was a very self-destructive move for Amelia. Was it a sign of her slipping back into old habits? What kind of wake-up call was that for her, even though she wins Toni back in the premiere?
Marinis: She is someone who does self-sabotage quite a bit. This is showing how much she’s grown, and how much Toni has made an impression on her. A lot of things that she struggled with in her relationship with Kai, she does not have those problems with Toni. She felt so deeply about Toni that she was hurt when she thought Toni was going back to her ex. That’s why she slept with Cass. It was a pain reflex. It wasn’t necessarily to mess up this relationship. It shows how far she’s come, the self-work that she’s done, and she’s just in love with Toni.
Jules and Winston were also happy until he decided to accept the Residency Director position from Bailey. What does that do for their plans to publicly admit they are in a relationship?
Marinis: We’ve had couples with power dynamics before on this show. That’s how this show started. But this is 2026. Things are different now. Jules has mentioned out loud that she wants to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. So it’s not only a problem because he is her mentor in her career, but now he’s in a position of direct authority over her, and he never said anything to Bailey. He hasn’t come forward with either Bailey or Richard, so it’s going to be very messy.
Across town, Simone is finding out she’s pregnant. What is freaking her out more: being a pregnant resident or that she doesn’t 100 percent know who the dad is?
Marinis: It’s also a little bit of shock. She was just told that having children would be very difficult for her. You can’t help but think that there’s another layer to this. Not only was she told that she’s not going to have children, but she also got pregnant. She doesn’t know whose it is, but as a woman and somebody who wanted to have children, it’s going to give her pause about what to do going forward.
Grey’s Anatomy continues Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Hulu.