WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Grey's Anatomy season 17 episode 6. Read at your own risk.
Fans have to wait and see what's coming next on Grey's Anatomy season 17 as the medical drama won't be coming back until next year on ABC. Meredith Grey's health (Ellen Pompeo) remains in question after waking up only for her condition to get worse later on.
In the winter finale of Grey's Anatomy season 17, the Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital is at surge capacity as patients continue to die at an alarming rate due to COVID-19. While the situation was overwhelming for everyone, Meredith woke up and seemingly feeling great.
She and Tom Koracick (Greg Germann) talked about the illness, with the latter telling her she gave him hope that the virus can be defeated. But, Meredith collapsed after helping a coding patient when no one is around. She was put on a ventilator and her vitals were dropping.
Meredith is going to be in a bad shape again when the series returns. In a recent interview with Deadline, showrunner Krista Vernoff discussed what the future holds for the character and what else is coming in the next batch of episodes.
In the early part of the current installment, most patients with COVID-19 put in ventilator died. This is a huge concern for Meredith, but Vernoff made it clear that the character has "historically defied statistics like that." The entire team is dedicated to saving her and they'll do everything to help her get through it.
But, since she fell into coma again, Meredith will remain in the beach dream sequence. It represents her subconscious while fighting for her life. This particular scene brings nostalgic feelings to long-time viewers as it sees notable returns of deceased characters.
Meredith's later husband Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) and her friend George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) already made an appearance. While there is a possibility more familiar faces are showing up, Vernoff noted that they haven't recruited other Grey's alum appearing in the beach dream sequence.
The good news is that Dempsey will be appearing again in one of the upcoming episodes of Grey's Anatomy season 17. In a separate interview with Variety, Vernoff confirmed that viewers will see Derek again. Also, the actor previously revealed that he'll have more appearance in the show.
Meanwhile, the series also follows other personal storylines beyond Meredith's. Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) is still planning to switch specialties to obstetrics, while the rift between Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy Altman's (Kim Raver) runs much deeper.
Grey's Anatomy season 17 returns on Thursday, March 4, 2021, on ABC.
