GREY'S ANATOMY

No more walks on the beach, we hope! Even for a medical soap that thrives on tears, angst and broken hearts, last season was a gut punch: The show's beloved mainstay, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), spent months in a COVIDrelated coma.

- Ileane Rudolph

Her ex Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) died heroically. And veteran surgeons Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and Tom Koracick (Greg Germann) left Grey Sloan Memorial to work at the Catherine Fox Foundation. Thank heavens for the nuptials of Mer's half-sister Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary) and Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) in the finale! Here, executive producer Meg Marinis preps us to scrub in for Season 18.

In the opener, an influx of patients flood the hospital after Seattle hosts a citywide summer celebration. “Everyone goes all out in an attempt to return to their pre-pandemic lives," Marinis says. Surgery chief Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) focuses on filling job vacancies.