Grey's Anatomy Boss Makes ‘Rare’ Promise Regarding What's To Come In Season 18

Amelia Shepherd and Kai Bartley work on Grey's Anatomy.
(Image credit: ABC)

The wait is almost over. Just one more week until Grey’s Anatomy returns for its Season 18 spring premiere — a crossover with Station 19 where we’ll finally learn the fates of Owen Hunt and the other characters left hanging in the winter finale. While we have some ideas about what we want to see when our favorite Seattle surgeons resurface for the rest of Season 18, showrunner Krista Vernoff has uncharacteristically provided a full-on confirmation of what we can expect — or rather what we shouldn’t expect.

The winter finale left viewers with a lot of questions surrounding the love triangle Amelia Shepherd has found herself in. Amelia and Link broke up after she turned down his proposal and said she’d never want to get married, seemingly a deal-breaker for Link. Just as he changed his mind about marriage, however, Amelia was in the midst of striking up a romance with Kai Bartley, the hot new neuroscientist from Minnesota. Krista Vernoff, of course, didn’t exactly go into detail about what’s in store for this trio, but she did tell TVLine there’s one thing curious fans have asked about that no one should expect to see when Season 18 picks back up.  

There will be no ‘throuple’ this season on Grey’s Anatomy. It’s rare that anyone gets a firm answer from me on anything.

I guess the "no throuple" promise goes for Jo Wilson, too, as Grey’s Anatomy keeps teasing there might be more romantic chemistry between her and longtime BFF Link than either of them ever realized. In the episode “Today Was a Fairy Tale,” Jo was caught off-guard when Link admitted he had a crush on her back when they first met, which seemed to awaken more-than-friendly feelings for Link, just as he became more convinced he wanted to reunite with Amelia.

Krista Vernoff rarely drops promises such as that one, so it must be for a good reason. While the showrunner admits it’s going to get “pretty complicated” for all of the characters involved — which should be expected for all Grey’s Anatomy love interests — viewers can expect Amelia and Link to go in one direction or the other, rather than embracing a more populated relationship, at least for now. 

Grey’s Anatomy fans won’t have to wait to see how Link reacts to seeing Amelia kissing Kai, but the longtime ABC medical drama has plenty of other business to handle when it returns for the crossover with Station 19. Owen Hunt’s life was left hanging in the balance after the vehicle he was in slid down a cliff. Teddy, meanwhile, was trying to make it back to the hospital with the donor heart to save Megan’s son Farouk’s life. And Meredith was performing surgery to save David Hamilton after he got sick right before their groundbreaking Parkinson’s surgery. All those problems make the idea of throuple-dom sound downright simple.

The crossover event begins with Station 19 at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, February 24, followed by Grey’s Anatomy at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. Be sure to check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see what other shows are premiering soon.

Heidi Venable
Content Producer

Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.