Grey's Anatomy is returning for Season 16 soon, and the drama is already poised to feature some amazing new stories and answer all our questions about the many cliffhangers we saw in the finale. But, this season will also do something else that fans of the late, great supernatural drama Charmed will love. That's right, folks, two of the Charmed Ones are back together, as Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano will guest star on an upcoming episode!
As you can see in the above photo, Grey's Anatomy will have Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano sharing quite a bit of screen time when they guest star in Episode 3, which is aptly titled "Reunited." In the October 10 episode, the two will play sisters who have to decide whether or not to keep a third sister (omg) alive after she falls into a construction site and is left brain dead. If said third sister ends up being played by either Shannon Doherty or Rose McGowan I will lose my absolute mind!
In case your memory of Charmed is a bit fuzzy, the show, which aired on The WB, ran for eight seasons from 1998 through 2006 and featured Combs, Milano and (originally) Doherty as sisters Piper, Phoebe and Prue who find out that they're the most powerful good witches of all time and have to use their considerable powers to protect humanity from a wide variety of supernatural bad guys like warlocks and demons. Prue has the powers of telekinesis and astral projection, Piper can freeze those around her and also make evil objects or entities explode, while Phoebe has the gift of premonition.
Shannon Dohery left Charmed at the end of Season 3 when her character was killed, and from Season 4 onward Rose McGowan appeared as recently discovered half-sister Paige, who can teleport objects and people.
While this Charmed reunion is quite a surprise in general, at the outset it seems even more surprising that it would take place on Grey's Anatomy, of all places. But, Krista Vernoff, who is the executive producer of Grey's, was also a producer on Charmed, while her fellow Grey's EP, Andy Reaser, was a writer on the fantasy series.
Charmed was a big hit for the still-new WB network, with a series premiere that was watched by 7.7 million viewers and broke the record for the network's highest rated debut episode. It was also the second longest running series on The WB, behind 7th Heaven, and was the longest running hour long show with all female leads until Desperate Housewives surpassed it in 2012.
The show's impact didn't end when it left the air, either. Charmed remained popular in repeats and was even the second most binge watched show on streaming services like Netflix for a time. This continued popularity led to The CW (which took over from The WB in many respects) rebooting Charmed in 2018 with a new cast combining their sisterly gifts as the Power of Three (which Holly Marie Combs was none too pleased about).
It'll be good to see Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs working together again. Milano has stayed active on television in recent years with shows like Mistresses and Insatiable, while Combs was most recently known for playing Aria's mom on Pretty Little Liars. Grey's Anatomy rarely disappoints when it comes to high stakes drama, so we'll probably be treated to some pretty cool performances from both of them when their episode airs.
Grey's Anatomy premieres Season 16 on Thursday, September 26 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC. Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano will appear in Episode 3, which airs on October 10, but in the meantime you can stay up to date on all of fall's debuts with our 2019 TV premiere guide!
