DESTROYER WARNING: This story details the March 11 episodes of ABCs Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19.
Just like in the fall finals, Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 returned from hiatus with another powerful and deeply emotional intersection. Tonight’s episodes were about the aftermath of the dramatic rescue by the Station 19 team of two black teenage girls who were abducted and the arrest of Robert and Dean by a zealous white policeman. It also says goodbye to one of Grey’s Anatomydoctors, Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti), just as the ominous ABC promo indicated. (Read here the deadline’s interview with Gianniotti.)
While Station 19 Firefighters all tried to process the previous day’s events and discuss issues of racism during policing, and the series of kidnapping stories from multiple seasons to a successful ending. When we last saw DeLuca in the autumn finale, he spotted Opal – the alleged child trader who caused his manic episode last season – in the parking lot of Gray Sloan and drove with his sister Carina, following Opal’s car. The DeLucas got Carina’s girlfriend, Captain Maya Bishop, Station 19, and her team to help with the operation. Opal was eventually arrested, but not before her accomplice stabbed DeLuca.
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With his sister by his side, DeLuca was rushed to Gray Sloan where he underwent successful emergency surgery, under the guidance of Owen and Teddy, but he later developed DIC and died in the operating room despite Owen and Teddy’s best efforts.
While staggering to the brink of death, DeLuca had to spend time in the dream on the beach with Meredith, who is unresponsive in the delivery, hooked up to a fan.
‘I do not know what is happening from here, Meredith, but no matter what happens, I want you to know that I never felt how I saw myself, I never felt inspired as you inspired me; not only my best self, but also better, ”he said. The duo, whose budding romance was interrupted by the pandemic, had a touching final conversation before DeLuca told her, ‘You’ll be fine, Meredith,’ and ran to his late mother waving to him. Just when his body was flat in the OR, he reunited in a sweet embrace with his mother on the beach.
In an interview with Deadline, Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 showrunner Krista Vernoff discusses the decision to kill DeLuca this season, the significance of the way he died and the impact his sudden passing will have on his sister, Meredith and the other doctors in Gray Sloan. She also teases a big Teddy-Owen bow to their newfound band fighting for DeLuca’s life and a story by George Floyd / BLM about Station 19. She also explains if we will see DeLuca again and addresses Meredith’s status – as well as the status of the series that has not been renewed for season 18 (you can read more about this.)
DEADLINE: When did you decide that the DeLuca character would die? Was his mental health crisis last season a point where you considered writing him off?
KRISTA VERNOFF: No. It was one of the first creative imaginations I had when I imagined what this season would be like. It’s like I said before. As the stories tell themselves. I try it just as fast as I can write it down, and this story told me as I walked on the beach and imagined the season, and I was like, oh, no, really ?! But it felt powerful and important, and I do not always know why, but it was the story that came.
Deadline: Was it important to you that DeLuca completely redeemed himself before he died? He helped the kidnapped girl and Bailey earlier this season and took one last brave act to arrest Opal.
VERNOFF: Yes. It was extremely important to me that it would be clear that he was through his mental health crisis, and that the next sexual trade on sex trafficking was rooted in his bravery and goodness as a human being, and that I think we did well. I did not dare to send the message that he had died due to his mental illness. He is dead and powerful through his crisis for mental health, and he dies as a hero. He probably saved many lives in the future.
Deadline: What was your conversation with Giacomo about writing his character?
VERNOFF: This story was the most vivid story I had in the season. I knew exactly what we were doing, and exactly how we were doing it, and once we had a form, and we knew when Giacomo was going to happen in the season, we met him. . He was so lovely and so relieved that it was not a crisis story about mental health, that it was all the things I have said. He was just relieved that we were honest with this character. That he goes out bravely, that he does not kill himself. That he did not hurt anyone. That he was clear in terms of his mental health and went out in this very noble, brave way. He was brave.
Deadline: What is the effect of DeLuca’s death on his sister, Meredith, and the other doctors in the hospital?
VERNOFF: There is a big impact. He fell in love, and all those doctors came together in the intervention and really cared for him. So there is a big impact on his sister and on everyone who loved him. The big kind of question mark is Meredith. You know, Meredith is not awake, and although she was on that beach with DeLuca, there is a question mark over how it will affect her.
Deadline: In DeLuca’s conversation with Meredith on the beach, he sounded prophetic when he said to her, ‘Meredith, you’re fine.’ We have to read a lot in it – is he right?
VERNOFF: Yes. Do you need to read it? I do not know. More will be revealed.
Deadline: can you tell us when we will know Meredith’s fate?
VERNOFF: Do not want to watch the program and see how it unfolds?
Deadline: Yes, but there is also a lot of anxiety associated with it.
VERNOFF: I know it’s painful, and it’s scary. Just like Covid.
Deadline: How does it work with Giacomo and the rest of the cast on his last episode?
VERNOFF: I feel like everyone brought their A-game to the storylines, and I’m very grateful to Giacomo. What I said to him at the table when we read this episode is thank you for interpreting this character so powerfully and so beautifully that you are giving the world the opportunity to feel our collective sadness in your death.
Deadline: Will we see him on the beach after DeLuca’s death? It has become an excellent place to bring your character back.
VERNOFF: There was a discussion about bringing him back to the beach, but we all felt that his outing with his mother was so deep and powerful. I cried harder about it than I had for years watching something in our program, so we did not want to see him come back to the beach. You will see him again. He does appear in more episodes this season, but I do not want to spoil what it is.
Deadline: Is there anyone coming to the beach again this season?
VERNOFF: I would say, chances are good that you will see other people on the beach.
Deadline: In his last hours, it seemed as if DeLuca had brought Owen and Teddy together in their grief when they could not save him. And Teddy had just let Koracick go when that happened. Are Owen and Teddy getting closer to reconciliation?
VERNOFF: Owen and Teddy have a big story arc over the next few episodes.
Deadline: on Station 19, while the characters processed the events of the autumn finale, it almost felt as if I had to listen to the writers of the series in the writers’ room and process the events of last summer themselves. How do you describe the conversations between the different firefighters?
VERNOFF: Well, we have a very diverse cast and a very inclusive cast and writers room, and we honor and include many voices and perspectives when we talk about these in-depth topics. So the process is really inclusive.
Deadline: What’s next for that group? Dean filing a case is a new element that can give a look at the legal system. Is this something that will be an important plot line going forward?
VERNOFF: Yes. This is an important plot line going forward throughout our entire season. Our season is still alive in May and June of 2020, and if you remember, in April, May, June of 2020, we processed the death of George Floyd and the uprising in its aftermath as a nation, and so, we many of these issues moving forward on the program are bravely confronted.
DEADLINE: Will George Floyd’s death be included in the show?
VERNOFF: Yes.
Deadline: Mostly on Station 19 or in both shows?
VERNOFF: To some extent in both shows, but it is very important Station 19.
DEADLINE: You finished the fall season with two very heavy back-to-back episodes that include the death of Bailey’s mother, and now DeLuca dies back in the first episode. Is there light and windy? Grey’s come up?
VERNOFF: Is there light and windy Grey’s come up? Maybe later in the season. We have some very intense things coming up, and these are just the kind of years we live in. It’s just a reflection of the year we’ve just been through, and I would argue that there are beautiful moments of light. Not windy, but when DeLuca’s mom appears on the beach. I mean, what’s more beautiful than that? Yes, it’s deep, and yes, you feel your feelings, but I would argue that these episodes are not just dark. There is light and beauty in the darkness.
Deadline: What can you tell us about the “pretty intense things to come”?
VERNOFF: The impact of DeLuca’s death strikes everyone differently, but it does strike one of our characters who have reached their saturation level and their breaking point.
Deadline: Do you still know if it’s the last season of Grey’s?
VERNOFF: I do not know yet.