Season 17 of Grey’s Anatomy was a tough one to watch, as the storylines mirrored the events of the real world, with the fictional Seattle surgeons fighting COVID and joining the protests after George Floyd’s murder. While the season finale did see Kelly McCreary's Maggie and Anthony Hill's Winston enjoying their pandemic-delayed wedding, as well as Owen’s proposal to longtime on-off girlfriend Teddy, we probably also saw the end of Amelia and Link. But when Season 18 starts off, it looks like Grey’s Anatomy will try to change things up for its remaining couples, namely by allowing them some much-deserved happiness. Yes, happiness.
Many of Maggie and Winston’s dating days were experienced digitally, as COVID forced the two to be quarantined in their respective cities. But Winston got fed up with that arrangement and finally moved to Seattle, where the couple wed on the beach after Meredith recovered from her own season-long health scare. Grey’s Anatomy executive producer Meg Marinis recently spoke to TV Line about what’s in store for the newlyweds in Season 18, and didn't have any new disasters to report. In her words:
[Maggie and Winston will be] coming back from their honeymoon very much in love and happy to be together and working together. We’re definitely celebrating the couple. Even if you’re a newlywed and you had been living together [for a long time], you still discover little things, living habits, all the fun stuff.
Excuse me if I’m jumping for joy. Maggie and Winston are such a cute and strong couple, and I can’t wait to see how they navigate the waters of early marriage. Teddy and Owen, meanwhile, have weathered a lot more in their relationship, which dates back to their days in the military. Last season Teddy went down a dark road with PTSD — a condition that Owen has also struggled with — after the death of Andrew DeLuca, not to mention her revelation to Owen that she’d been romantically involved with her friend Allison (the namesake of her and Owen’s child). But Meg Marinis said this couple will also be stronger for their struggles.
They’re starting the season stronger than ever. They’ve both grown a lot from her breakthrough about her past last season and from Owen seeing that they’ve both struggled with PTSD — in different ways, but they’ve both struggled. They’ll still face challenges as a couple, but we took them a long way last season, so we’re happy where they are.
It’ll be a lot easier for Teddy and Owen to move forward without having to worry about Tom Koracick, the third member of their crazy love triangle, after actor Greg Germann left the show last season. But while one might have expected Grey's Anatomy's creative team to find another obstacle for them to maneuver around, it sounds like that might not be the case. At least for the first five minutes or so of the season.
After the tragedies that Season 17 encapsulated, it’ll be so refreshing to see our surgeon heroes find joy in Season 18 — as we’ll also see Jo Wilson taking on motherhood and a new specialty in her own search for happiness. Now that Meredith is out of her beach hallucination, will she bliss out with McWidow Cormac Hayes?
We don’t have to wait too much longer to find out! Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 premieres on ABC at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 30, following its firefighting brothers and sisters on Station 19 (who could also use some joy in their fifth season). Be sure to check out our 2021 Fall TV Schedule for all of the upcoming premiere dates of your favorite shows.
