Spoilers ahead from the Grey's Anatomy Season 15 finale.
What the heck happened to Jackson Avery at the end of the Grey's Anatomy Season 15 finale? He literally jumped into the fog in "Jump Into the Fog" and we don't know where he went. Apparently we're not alone. Showrunner Krista Vernoff made the rounds after Season 15, Episode 25, and it sounds like she hasn't quite decided how the Jackson twist will play out in Season 16.
Krista Vernoff was asked why the finale left Jackson's fate so open-ended, and whether it was a creative decision or based on what's in actor Jesse Williams' contract:
It was a creative decision. It was a cliffhanger. I want people to come back [in the fall] and talk all summer and wonder what happens to him. We have not mapped it out. The writers come back June 3, I'm on vacation for two weeks and then we'll hit it. What I love about act six of our finale is we gave ourselves so much to play with for next season on all the storylines.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Jesse Williams is coming back as a series regular in Grey's Anatomy Season 16, so we're expecting to see more of him. But the Season 15 finale showed him get in an ugly fight with Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary), with both of them saying things it may be hard to come back from. Then, when they hit the fog that covered most of Seattle, he got out of the car to walk ahead. That's the last we saw of him, until Maggie later got out of the car to shout his name and try to find him.
Krista Vernoff told TVLine that Jaggie fight felt "significant" and was possibly something that they can't come back from. However, since Maggie is so worried about what might've happened to Jackson, that could be something that helps to bridge their other gaps.
I am proud of the design of that cliffhanger, because we don’t know if they’re going to make it as a couple or why Jackson disappeared into the fog. It gives us as writers a lot of exciting places to go potentially.
She said Jackson's current status is "worrisome." But even if he emerges unscathed -- or only slightly scathed -- and they get back together, there's no un-ringing the bell of what they said. She called him out on his "Mr. Monopoly" privilege and he keeps pushing for her to change who she is. Here's Vernoff's take on that fight, to TVLine:
I know from painful experience that love is one ingredient that makes a relationship work, but if you just love each other and don’t like and respect each other, then love alone will not make it last. I think they were kindly and somewhat lovingly acknowledging that he keeps wanting her to expand. And I don’t know that she ever would have called him Mr. Monopoly. I don’t know that she ever sat around feeling like she didn’t respect him, but the way that scene evolved, it just felt like one of those really awful fights that you don’t realize you’re in until you’ve said the thing you can’t take back.
The Grey's Anatomy Season 15 finale had a lot of surprises for fans, as Jake Borelli told CinemaBlend it would. The Levi Schmitt/Glasses actor also revealed the co-stars he'd love to have more scenes with in Season 16. Grey's Anatomy will be coming back for at least two more seasons, since ABC gave the series a two-season renewal last week. Season 16 premieres this fall on ABC.
