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SPOILER ALERT: This interview accommodates essential spoilers from “How Do I Keep,” the Season 21 finale of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“Grey’s Anatomy” isn’t any stranger to gorgeous season finales. Nonetheless for the Season 21 finale of the venerable ABC medical drama, showrunner Meg Marinis wished to pay homage to a couple of “Grey’s” largest hits — a perpetrator holding docs hostage in an OR all through a life-saving course of; {{couples}} falling in and out of affection in the middle of a medical emergency; a superior sleeping with an intern sooner than realizing they’ve been an intern; and, in any case, a in all probability catastrophic explosion on the surgical floor of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

“Before now, we’ve had people threaten the hospital — we’ve seen Gary Clark inside the shooter episode [at the end of Season 6],” Marinis tells Choice. “Nonetheless we now have been like, ‘What does it look like when a destroyed mom does it?’ So we did a twist on this story and wished to do a nostalgic ‘Grey’s’ finale the place you don’t know who lives and who dies.”

Thursday’s finale revolved spherical Dr. Amelia Shepherd’s (Caterina Scorsone) latest “unattainable case”: Dylan Gatlin (Sophia Kopera), a 9-year-old affected one who, following issues from surgical process to cope with a cavernous angioma, was acknowledged with locked-in syndrome. After turning into fed up with Amelia and Dr. Beltran’s (Natalie Morales) repeated insistence on able to see whether or not or not Dylan’s intracranial bleeding would resolve by itself, Dylan’s mother, Jenna (Piper Perabo), decided to take points into her private fingers, stealing a tank filled with acetylene from her husband’s truck and threatening to blow up the hospital if Amelia didn’t save her daughter.

With an assist from her nephew, Dr. Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) — who could solely watch helplessly as Jenna held an explosive to his ex-girlfriend Dr. Simone Griffith’s (Alexi Floyd) chest — Amelia is able to stop Dylan’s bleeding. (Ellen Pompeo’s Dr. Meredith Grey, who isn’t any stranger to hostage situations or potential explosions inside the OR, even jumps in to ship some modern frozen plasma to help save Dylan.) In a state of equal parts help and disbelief, Jenna fell to her knees and let go of the tank, and he or she was promptly arrested.

The police verified Jenna’s assertion that the tank had been empty all alongside, nevertheless for some trigger, no person had thought to confirm whether or not or not the valve had been opened. Inside the closing two episodes of Season 13, Meredith witnessed an explosion that led to a fire on an increased floor of the hospital from the parking lot. The last word moments of Season 21 parallel that second, with Meredith as soon as extra wanting up in horror from the parking lot after one different explosion wipes out part of the surgical floor.

Beneath, Marinis breaks down all of the developments in that jam-packed finale, along with what Meredith’s new deal with Catherine (Debbie Allen) will indicate for Pompeo’s future involvement with the gathering. Having joined “Grey’s” in 2006 as a writer’s PA who has risen by the use of the ranks to develop to be the current showrunner, Marinis moreover opens up about her working relationship with Pompeo, along with how she is approaching in all probability bringing once more additional beloved characters for the current’s record-extending twenty second season, premiering this fall.

Piper Perabo delivers a heartbreaking portrayal of a mother whose desperation leads her to hold hostage the docs who’re chargeable for her teenager’s care. The character could have merely been characterised as a pure villain, nevertheless viewers will inevitably actually really feel these fleeting moments of sympathy for this woman who has clearly spiraled uncontrolled. How did you consider crafting Jenna’s multi-episode arc, and what stands out to you about Piper’s effectivity?

It gave me the chills every time they arrested her, which is a tribute to Piper’s effectivity. Clearly, after we now have been in discussions of casting her, we crammed her in on all of the story and let her know that will probably be the deterioration of a persona that you simply simply see in her eyes. After we see her in that first episode, she is put collectively and he or she’s obtained make-up on. Her little one is having surgical process, so she’s anxious. After which inside the second episode — and Piper was very involved on this — she had them take curls out of her hair, and he or she had darkish circles and fewer make-up.

Nonetheless we couldn’t go too far collectively together with her effectivity until the ultimate episode the place in Act I, when she turns and likewise you see that look on her face, you’re like, “Oh, that’s the second she makes the selection that she’s going to take this hospital down.” Piper was a tremendous collaborative confederate, and I’m so grateful that she joined our current for 3 episodes because of she’s so gifted. She is any individual who appears to be identical to the girl subsequent door, nevertheless then in a second could merely flip. She gave that effectivity that you simply simply see inside the decrease, even when the digicam was on the alternative people. She did it 35 cases in a row.

In a main for “Grey’s,” this season, Teddy (Kim Raver) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) decided to experiment with an open marriage with a goal to save lots of their marriage. Teddy tried exploring her attraction to Dr. Cass Beckman (Sophia Bush) nevertheless in the long run often known as off their fling. Owen, nonetheless, related alongside along with his childhood good pal, Nora (Floriana Lima), who later turns into Teddy’s affected individual. The place did the inspiration for the storyline come from? Did you on a regular basis know that you simply simply have been going to complete with Teddy eager to separate from Owen?

No, we actually thought it was going to complete in any other case. And with the performances that Kim and Kevin have been giving, they blew me away all season prolonged with these robust marriage conversations that that that they had. Our design initially of the season was that this marriage hasn’t been historically comfy, so let’s actually see it play out in precise time and see what often happens, which is people use band-aid choices to restore one factor that’s broken in itself. I imagine that open marriage has labored for some people, nevertheless on television we repeatedly see that it’s a mistake.

It moreover was a satisfying strategy to get totally different fascinating customer stable to deal with and illuminate what Teddy wasn’t getting from Owen and what Owen wasn’t getting from Teddy. A variety of it’s that Teddy now has the job that he used to have. That vitality dynamic has been robust for them. They’re two full-time, high-stress working mom and father with two younger kids. They don’t prioritize their marriage, and that’s the consequence of that. And when totally different people have been prioritizing them, they observed, “Oh, there’s one thing incorrect proper right here. It’s not primarily that we have to be with these people, nevertheless we’re looking at each other not the best way during which we should be looking at each other.”

Teddy has spent years and years choosing Owen — usually on the expense of her private job and her private happiness. What epiphany did she have in these previous few episodes that has allowed her to reach the conclusion that she has to determine on herself over Owen for as quickly as? Did seeing Owen and Nora collectively inside the hospital mattress give Teddy any type of readability?

I imagine when she sees the two of them collectively on the end of the [penultimate] episode, after which she had the surgical process to hold out, it’s this second of, “Can I do this?” I imagine the second that she realized that she could do the surgical process and that she could do one thing, she realized, “OK, I could stroll away. I acquired right here up with this very good surgical process. I saved the woman that slept with my husband. I’m strong adequate.” I imagine sooner than this second, there was concern that she wasn’t strong adequate to do it. And on this episode, she realizes that she can do it. It’s very arduous and painful, nevertheless that speech is so strong. I hope women watch it everywhere and make the exact selection for themselves. She’s such a robust character, and I imagine that usually she locations herself second for him.

Owen was clearly blindsided by this dialog, nevertheless to be sincere, he had it coming. The place do you see them going from proper right here?

I don’t assume they know however. Clearly, the dynamic might shift, understanding what happens inside the hospital on the end of the finale. Clearly, [what takes priority is] who’s injured, who’s taking excellent care of whom, and the best way Teddy navigates that as chief. I imagine it’s going to be robust, nevertheless I do assume that as writers we’re interested by seeing what it appears to be like when the two are apart for a second. It doesn’t indicate that they acquired’t lastly uncover their strategy once more to 1 one other, because of that’s “Grey’s.” We could go on for an extra decade!

Inside the penultimate episode, shortly after Lucas had merely dumped her, Simone related with a handsome stranger (Trevor Jackson) at Joe’s Bar — and, naturally, that man is now one in every of many new surgical interns at Grey Sloan. What new issues will that new intern create for Simone and Lucas going forward?

Successfully, Lucas has to hunt out out first, correct? And the ultimate time we observed Lucas, he was working down a hallway trying to cease an explosion. So we’ve acquired to hunt out out what happens there, nevertheless I imagine that’s really, really messy for Simone. That’s Meredith Grey messy. I imagine that it’s even messier, because of from the little that we’ve seen of this new character, he does have a conceit that may rival totally different docs inside the hospital. He’s in all probability not the very best, most agreeable, most obedient intern, so that may throw one different wrench into the game.

Have you ever ever named this new intern already, or are we going to hunt out out his title subsequent season?

You’ll uncover out his title subsequent season.

Following the highest of “Station 19,” Ben Warren (Jason Winston George) returned to Grey Sloan to work as a probationary surgeon, nevertheless Bailey (Chandra Wilson) reveals that Teddy is simply not recommending him to proceed his residency on the hospital as a consequence of his tendency to interrupt protocols. What issues did you want to create for Ben in his return to the medical self-discipline? And supplied that cliffhanger, will he really be leaving Grey Sloan?

He was exterior the hospital when that explosion went off, so everyone knows he’s alive. Nonetheless he doesn’t have a job, so he’s going by the use of an emotional explosion. What we wished to see for him coming once more was that it wasn’t going to be as easy as he assumed, and likewise the issue of attending to work side-by-side collectively along with your partner who’s prepared of authority over you. I imagine they’ve been ready to navigate that fairly successfully. There have been just some bumps inside the freeway, nevertheless we wished to tell a story the place Ben didn’t have to ask for specific remedy from Bailey.

And since he did it his strategy, the renegade strategy, it led to him to complete up in a load of problem. Nonetheless the one which made that decision was Teddy, and Teddy has had an emotional yr. So I imagine there’s one factor to be said, now that she’s lastly able to determine on herself and put that part of her life aside: Did she make the exact selection? And the best way helpful will Ben be on this chaotic second when the hospital is definitely on fire?

Winston (Anthony Hill) and Jules (Adelaide Kane) was a model new, in all probability romantic pairing that appeared to return straight out of left self-discipline this season. What did you want to accomplish by pairing the two of them collectively?

Since Meredith and [Patrick Dempsey’s] Derek and the early years of the current, we’ve acquired unlikely had that vitality dynamic in a romantic relationship. [Camilla Luddington’s] Jo and [Justin Chambers’] Alex had that slightly bit bit, and that’s clearly frowned upon in within the current day’s world. Winston is a youthful attending, so it’s not like there’s an unlimited age distinction, nevertheless there is a distinction in that he’s an attending and he or she’s an intern. So we now have been really interested by exploring that in within the current day’s world and calling out that it’s incorrect.

Winston is conscious of that it’s incorrect and he tries to do the exact issue, nevertheless what he thinks is doing the exact issue is certainly on the expense of her education. We have now been like, “Successfully, she has to call him out on that.” For individuals who look intently, there’s debate on whether or not or not we predict that’s one-sided. Jules pauses very deliberately sooner than she says, “The strains have been very clear for me.” For individuals who watch that episode the place she takes him to the rooftop, I actually really feel like she was crossing the highway there for him. So there have been some moments the place I’m undecided it was merely one-sided, nevertheless Winston was really trying to stay behind the highway because of he’s a standup man.

Jo and Hyperlink (Chris Carmack) moreover obtained married inside the penultimate episode, and we be taught after their little hospital honeymoon that they’re anticipating twin ladies — nevertheless, in any case, Hyperlink is engaged on a affected individual correct sooner than the explosion happens.

With Jo and Hyperlink, that that they had recognized each other for 20 years, nevertheless their relationship fast-forwarded really shortly. It went from, “Oh my gosh, we do have to be collectively” to a month or two later, “We’re pregnant?!” And unexpectedly, it was twins and they also have been combating the best way during which they checked out having kids in any other case, after which she had a complication. And finally, they obtained on the similar net web page and decided to get married. So I actually really feel desire it’s the calm sooner than the storm as soon as extra for them. We’re “Grey’s,” we’re indicate! It’s a cliffhanger, nevertheless we uncover out they’re having ladies, which is such a nice second. That that they had an beautiful bridal ceremony, and he or she was an beautiful pregnant bride.

Meredith decides in opposition to selling her shares inside the hospital and in its place makes a model new deal with Catherine that may allow her to spend additional time in Seattle and once more at Grey Sloan — all whereas persevering together with her Alzheimer’s evaluation. Does Meredith’s new deal with Catherine indicate that we’ll be seeing slightly bit additional of her subsequent season, or is Ellen nonetheless set to appear in seven episodes?

We’ll see her as quite a bit as we’re capable of get her. She’s on a regular basis welcome to return with us. She’s family. We preferred watching her get a star on Hollywood Blvd. — very, very deserved. I wanted to see Meredith not solely persevering together with her evaluation on Alzheimer’s, which is great important and associated correct now, nevertheless I moreover miss seeing her inside the OR — and by no means primarily doing primarily essentially the most groundbreaking surgical process of all time. I missed merely seeing her inside the OR and educating, and notably with this class of residents that she chosen, it was moreover a strategy to get her once more into Seattle with a goal to see that aspect of her. Clearly, we’ll get to see Scott Speedman, because of Meredith and Nick are nonetheless collectively.

You’ve intentionally chosen to jot down down multi-episode arcs for Meredith, comparatively than giving her a bunch of one-off appearances. How do you navigate these conversations with Ellen about her future on-screen involvement with the current?

The multi-episode arcs are moreover quite a bit higher for her schedule, so she is conscious of when she’s going to be there and when she’s not. We converse initially of the season, and I share collectively together with her what the current is doing as a whole. If I’ve shared it with Shonda [Rhimes] and Debbie [Allen], our producing director, I’ll share what I can with Ellen — she’s an govt producer — and we’ll have a tremendous dialog about it. We confirm in with each other all by means of the season on the cellphone, by the use of textual content material. She does the voiceover. She’ll identify me and be like, “Is that this the exact tense inside the voiceover?” And I’m like, “It’s the exact tense.” Now we now have a very shut relationship and we converse often, so as soon as I do know {{that a}} block of episodes is coming down the freeway for her, I’ll identify her whereas I’m writing them and I’ll stroll her by the use of the story.

Ellen spoke with me simply currently ahead of her Hollywood Stroll of Fame ceremony, and he or she was very candid about how she has found herself pushing once more in opposition to among the many new writing on “Grey’s” that seems at odds with the Meredith character that she and Shonda had created collectively. She was notably referring to a contemporary storyline involving Lena Waithe’s character, which she vehemently disagreed with. How have you ever ever, as a showrunner, navigated these kinds of disagreements collectively together with her? And the best way robust is it to incorporate Meredith into the current when she comes in and out as quite a bit as she does?

I wouldn’t say that it’s robust to incorporate her coming in and out. Clearly, it’s the selection of whether or not or to not point out her in Boston or current her in Seattle that’s arduous to usually get organized and work out. Nonetheless for years, she has on a regular basis wished to be a part of the storytelling — and he or she has been. A variety of very good tales which have aired have come from a collaboration between us and Ellen, and that’s why she’s been a part of the current for thus prolonged. She cares quite a bit. She’s carried out this character for 21 years, so she has a historic previous with this character better than I’ve a historic previous with this character. I’ve watched her for 21 years and I’ve written for her for quite a lot of years, nevertheless I’d hope that she would converse up if one factor didn’t actually really feel pure.

And I was there that day for that precise story. I knew it was robust, and I knew it was not pretty what Meredith would do, nevertheless that’s what me in it. She and I walked by the use of it and made some line changes, and I actually really feel such as you’ll be capable of see on show the emotion that went into the story, and it was an beautiful effectivity. For me, it was wrapped up within the fact that she has a quite a bit completely totally different relationship with Alzheimer’s sickness than any of our characters, and now she has Nick in her life and a singular relationship with organ recipients and that part of medicine as successfully, so that’s the place [the story] acquired right here from. I do comprehend it was a protracted dialogue on set, nevertheless we obtained to an beautiful place, and I like when she does that. These people have carried out these characters for thus prolonged. Within the occasion that they didn’t converse up, will probably be weird.

Will you be casting a model new class of interns between seasons?

We might meet them, nevertheless we’re nonetheless invested on this now-second yr class of residents. As quite a bit as I’d wish to have a stable of 30 assortment regulars, I don’t assume that’s doable for the story and funds. Nonetheless hopefully, we’ll see some in probably a recurring place or one factor like that.

Ever since she left the current in 2014, Sandra Oh has maintained that she doesn’t have any have to return once more to “Grey’s.” Nonetheless in a contemporary interview, she admitted that, because of people nonetheless have quite a bit love for Cristina Yang, she has on the very least been moved to barely soften her stance. What did you make of her saying that? And whereas I’m not saying that you simply’ll ship Cristina once more per se, how are you approaching any conversations with former stable members about in all probability returning to the current sooner or later?

Oh my gosh, I hope she does — and I hope I get to jot down down the episode! She and I’ve run into each other a couple of cases at social events, and he or she has quite a bit love for the current; she has quite a bit love for the followers. I’d hope that sooner or later she’d return, nevertheless I imagine it’s moreover arduous to return to 1 factor the place you assume you’ve closed that door.

What’s so good a few 21-season current is we’re capable of shock the viewers [by] bringing once more a fan-favorite. There are so many fan-favorite characters that will nonetheless come once more, even once they die, and the writers’ room is on a regular basis pitching completely totally different people. We attempt to not do it an extreme quantity of, because of then it wouldn’t be as specific. They’re all very busy, nevertheless I imagine one in every of many joys of with the flexibility to work on this current is that there’s this pool of very gifted, beloved characters and actors that, if the timing is true, would come once more, notably now that we’ve acquired this new class of interns. We’ll play off them as, “Oh my gosh, Addison’s [Kate Walsh] coming to indicate us,” or “Jackson’s [Jesse Williams] coming.” It’s moreover satisfying to have them work along with the model new stable members. We nonetheless have good relationships with everybody, and if we’re capable of afford it and within the occasion that they’re on the market, we’ll ship them once more!

This interview has been edited and condensed.