WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Grey's Anatomy season 16 that may influence your enjoyment in discovering the plotlines. Read at your own risk.
When Grey's Anatomy season 16 premieres this fall, it will pick up where it left off. But within two hour-long episodes, a time jump will accelerate the course of the story.
Grey's Anatomy season 16 showrunner Krista Vernoff revealed to TV Line that episode 1 would start moments after the events of the season 15 finale. The unresolved issues of that episode will be immediately addressed, and then the new episode will segue with a time jump.
"We will then span a little bit of time over the course of the hour," Vernoff said. But when asked about how much time as passed, Vernoff remained tight-lipped about the whole thing.
It's not the first time for the show to use this plot device. In Grey's Anatomy season 9, things moved forward a month or so in the premiere episode and most of the characters have recovered from that terrible airplane crash.
But there would be a lot of stories to tackle before this time jump with the way things wrapped up in the Grey's Anatomy season 15 finale. Fans of the series will recall that Meredith (played by Ellen Pompeo), Richard (played by James Pickens Jr) and Alex (played by Justin Chambers) have all been fired from their jobs, while DeLuca (played by Giacomo Gianniotti) has been sent to prison, and Teddy (played by Kim Raver) had her baby with Owen (played by Kevin McKidd). Jackson (played by Jesse Williams), on the other hand, has gone missing.
The time jump will not bury the issues these characters face, especially for Meredith and DeLuca. The showrunner said that this couple would have to find a way to navigate their new relationship in Grey's Anatomy season 16 while challenged by what's going on in their lives.
Meanwhile, Richard will not be out of work for too long, as hinted by Pickens to Us Weekly. There's something in the works for the character, who was rumored be likely retiring from hospital work for good.
Grey's Anatomy season 16 will bring a new Teddy that viewers have never seen before. Raver said that Teddy's storyline next season is a "page-turner."
"They planted a lot of seeds and there's so much to grow," the actress shared. "Plus, I think we're gonna have to figure out the Owen of it all."
Grey's Anatomy season 16 will have a two-hour premiere on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.
