This story includes spoilers for the Grey Anatomy Season 21 finale, which is available to stream with a Hulu subscription or Netflix subscription.
Ever since Grey’s Anatomy’s 21st season ended in explosive fashion three months ago, fans have been biding their time until its return to the 2025 TV calendar, when we find out who — if anyone — was killed and how Grey Sloan Memorial will recover from its latest disaster. I knew the finale was going to frustrate me and the wait for October would be long, but after reading Camilla Luddington’s comments about the Season 22 premiere, I simply cannot hold on any longer.
“How Do I Live,” the final episode of Grey’s Anatomy Season 21, ended on a cliffhanger, when a gas canister exploded, taking out what appeared to be one of the operating rooms. Viewers saw the explosion from the parking lot below, as Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey made her way to her car, and it sounds like Season 22 opens in the chaotic aftermath, with Camilla Luddington telling E! News:
I don't even know how they're gonna film it in regular filming days, like this should be a three-week movie. It's wild. There's so much going on. There's so much action nonstop. I think viewers are gonna be really excited to watch, but also like, there’s some hard moments.
I actually love the idea of three movie-length episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, especially if there’s as much action as Camilla Luddington describes. The “hard moments” she’s talking about could very well involve her character, Jo Wilson, too.
The episode seemed to suggest that Atticus Lincoln (aka Chris Carmack’s Link) was in the OR that blew up — which Carmack had some fun with by recreating a classic Friends scene — and while even the Grey’s Anatomy cast didn’t know who died, the potential loss of Jo's husband has weighed heavily on Camilla Luddington during their time off. She said:
There are some premieres that I’m excited to come back and film. We’ve had some really funny openers and this one, I think I can say this, I was really dreading.
The actress said she had to “take a deep breath” before returning to work because “it’s been a lot.” These comments don’t seem to bode well for the ortho god, though Chris Carmack gave us hope for Link’s survival when he spoke with CinemaBlend in the weeks following the finale.
Of course, Camilla Luddington could be equally upset about losing any of her other castmates as well. Fans are assuming Jo is safe, since she had told Link earlier in the episode that she was headed home. As for who else definitely survived the explosion, there’s just Meredith (with Ellen Pompeo already confirmed for Season 22) and Ben Warren (Jason George), who was seen running from the parking lot back into the building in the seconds following the blast.
Regardless of which Grey Sloan doctor (or doctors) has gone to meet their maker, the Jo Wilson portrayer is promising big things when Grey’s Anatomy returns:
The finale was crazy, our premiere is even crazier. There is so much going on. … It's a rough episode for [Jo]. It's really rough.
It is unfathomable to me that we still have over a month before getting any closure on the Season 21 cliffhanger. I was already excited for what’s to come, but Camilla Luddington has made the wait unbearable with promises of action and heartbreak.
Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 is set to premiere at 10 p.m. ET Thursday, October 9 on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.
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