SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains major spoilers from “Collide,” the Season 23 premiere of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” streaming on Hulu. There’s a new sheriff in town at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. In the Season 23 premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy,” the doctors of TV’s most indomitable hospital are convened for the grand opening of a lavish new VIP floor.
Ostensibly designed to give wealthy patients a luxury stay — complete with private suites, high-level security, hotel-quality bedding and access to private chefs — the venture is backed by Seth Norton (James Wolk), a physician-turned-businessman who also happens to be Grey Sloan’s new chief of surgery. Following the simultaneous departures of former chiefs Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) at the end of last season, long-time fans might have expected another familiar face to take the helm. Instead, showrunner Meg Marinis opted for a corporate outsider, using Norton’s appointment to reflect the stark financial sacrifices modern hospitals must make just to keep their doors open to the general public.
The healthcare disparity is only growing more, unfortunately, and it’s something that felt very topical,” Marinis tells Variety. He was brought in for a purpose. Medicine’s business for him, and that’s not typically how our doctors have treated their careers.” In the wide-ranging conversation below, Marinis breaks down all of the personal and professional twists from the premiere; addresses the perennial chatter that this season of “Grey’s” could be the show’s last amid another wave of industry-wide budget cuts — and offers a status update on the untitled West Texas “Grey’s” spinoff, which she is co-creating with Shonda Rhimes.
I think it’s different, because Meredith is now not just a resident, she’s an attending who also has an ownership stake in the hospital. The risk of a hospital shutting down and patients losing all their doctors, all their care — that is something you have to really balance. We will explore what it looks like when a hospital shuts down, too.
It’s not going to necessarily be Grey Sloan, but you’ve seen it happen in L.A., and sometimes it can happen without a moment’s notice. It’s something I’ve always been interested in. And also, who’s going to take all those patients?
We haven’t confirmed that yet, but I say this every year: I want her as much as we can get her. When she’s here on the show, it’s great for us. She’s got a couple of different projects happening on the side, so at this point it just becomes a scheduling game.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
