Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff and company didn’t pull any punches when it came to wrapping up the medical drama’s 18th season on ABC. Grey Sloan was hemorrhaging doctors, including Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) and Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), who were forced to go on the lam after it came to light that the latter had stolen medication to help some terminally ill veterans die. Was that the last we’ll see of Owen and Teddy? The actress has weighed in on what she thinks her character’s future holds when the show returns this fall for Season 19.
Understandably, Kim Raver was noncommittal on revealing exactly what we can expect for her character after that big cliffhanger, but she told People she doesn’t think their story is over:
I mean, look, I hope that's not the way we're ending it. There is still a lot to be told with these two. But you never know. You have to keep everyone sort of wanting to tune in at the end of September. I just think there are still stories to be told.
While nothing has been promised, that would be a pretty unsatisfying end to Teddy and Owen’s story. Do they spend the rest of their days eluding the authorities with their two kids in tow? Will they never be able to legally practice medicine again? That’s unlikely, but seemingly just as unlikely would be Owen avoiding jail time in the event where he does come clean. As Bailey pointed out in the finale, it was most definitely a legal issue, not a moral one.
Kevin McKidd previously said his character and Teddy were in for “big, big problems” after she found out what he had done, and I’d say that has panned out. Owen at first hid from his wife the fact that he’d assisted the former soldiers in their suicides so as not to make her an accessory to the crime, but the truth came to light when Owen thought he was going to die and confessed what he’d done to Cormac Hayes (which in turn resulted in Cormac fleeing the country to escape the situation).
Grey Sloan was in a bad way when the ABC hit left us for the summer. On top of Teddy and Owen boarding a plane to who-knows-where in hopes of avoiding arrest, the hospital’s residents were orphaned; Bailey resigned, leaving Meredith in charge of a hospital she was trying to escape; and Richard took a sabbatical with Catherine to celebrate her cancer going back into remission. Will Season 19 really see that many characters leave Grey’s Anatomy? It's highly doubtful, but is anything so fully concrete at this point?
Regardless of what the fall brings for Teddy and Owen, Kim Raver sounds excited about what fans are in for when Grey’s Anatomy returns October 6:
Season 19 is going to be insane. It's like the bomb exploding and what is the fallout going to be? What show can pull off 19 years?
Even though Kevin McKidd has another project in the works, it’s unlikely we’ve seen the last of him and Kim Raver on Grey’s Anatomy. Ahead of Season 17, the two actors (and Camilla Luddington) agreed to three-year contract extensions, which presumably means they’re signed on through the upcoming season, even if their stories may suddenly end at any point for one reason or another.
While we wait on official news about Season 19 casting and what the future holds for the show beyond next year, Seasons 1-17 of Grey’s Anatomy can be streamed with a Netflix subscription (with Season 18 joining the lineup on June 25). Be sure to check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see what shows are premiering soon.
