Station 19 received some good news from ABC recently, as the hit Grey’s Anatomy firefighter spinoff was renewed for Season 6. In the world of Seattle’s bravest, however, it’s been doomy and gloomy for a while. According to showrunner Krista Vernoff, it’s about to get even darker, too, with star Jaina Lee Ortiz raving that Season 5’s second half will give fans a little bit of everything, while also saying that not everyone’s going to come out alive.
The winter finale of Station 19 saw the firehouse in all kinds of disarray, with Vic Huges still reeling — physically and emotionally — from Dean Miller’s death, Andy Herrera and Robert Sullivan on a roller coaster with their impending divorce, and Ben Warren gearing up for a custody battle over Dean’s daughter Pru. (Maya Bishop and Carina DeLuca are in a love bubble after deciding to have a baby, so let’s just leave them there as long as possible, okay?) Krista Vernoff told TVLine she’d planned to lighten the mood around the firehouse this season, but it didn’t quite work out that way.
The back half of the season takes a little bit of a darker turn than [I first planned]. The writers room keeps mocking me, because I came into this season, after [the] Year of COVID, like, ‘It’s the Season of Fun, you guys!’ And the whole first month, they were pitching me darkness, so I was like, ‘No! It’s the Season of Fun!’ And then everything I got pitched was darker than anything [that had come before].
I’d be afraid to ask how much darker it will get! As well as its COVID elements, Station 19 spent a lot of time dissecting racism and police brutality following George Floyd’s 2020 murder. When Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy decided to respectively set Seasons 5 and 18 in a fictionalized post-pandemic world, there was hope among fans (myself included) that the series would shed some of the issues weighing down our beloved characters. It sounds like that was Krista Vernoff’s hope as well, but as evidenced by Dean’s death and its aftermath, such happiness-driven fun wasn’t meant to be.
What’s terrible for the characters, however, is often fun for the actors portraying them. Andy Herrera might be dealing with tragedy and drama amid her divorce from Robert Sullivan, but Jania Lee Ortiz is excited to show what her character and the rest of Station 19's elite are going through. She said the second half of Season 5 will run the gamut of emotion for the fans.
It’s going to be hot, it’s going to be steamy, there’s going to be fire, there’s going to be drama, people are going to die… like, everything. All the things!
Jaina Lee Ortiz didn’t reveal any details about who might not survive Season 5, of course, so we don’t know if that means we’re losing another series regular, some recurring actors, or if she’s talking about Seattle civilians in general. However it goes, it sure sounds like things are about to get real.
It's worth noting that fans have been worried about Vic, who was electrocuted at the gas line rupture that killed Dean. She also suffered a heart attack after she found out Dean had died, and the heart monitor she wears is a beeping omen that I’m still afraid is going to pay off tragically somewhere down the line. But I wouldn't think Ortiz would be teasing that particular moment quite so energetically at this point.
We don’t have to wait long to find out, and the first order of business for Station 19 when it returns is going to be (possibly) saving Grey’s Anatomy’s Owen Hunt, as Season 5’s spring premiere is part of a two-hour crossover event. It all starts Thursday, February 24, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Be sure to check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see what other premieres are coming up.
