‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Meredith Grey and DeLuca’s Season 15 Hookup Explained

Grey’s Anatomy fans were promised that Meredith Grey would be finding love in the fifteenth season of the ABC medical drama, but when the trailer unveiled a hookup with resident Andrew DeLuca, many were left in shock.

With the first promo for the show’s newest episodes came the introduction of new characters — such as Chris Carmack’s “Ortho God” and Alex Landi’s Nico Kim — new drama, as well as the quick moment showing Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Andrew (Giacomo Gianniotti) in bed together.

Fans of the series should not panic, however, as TVLine reports that DeLuca will not be the “big love” that showrunner Krista Vernoff previously teased for Meredith for the big “Season of Love.”

As fans will remember from the season 14 finale, Andrew spent most of Alex (Justin Chambers) and Jo’s (Camilla Luddington) wedding getting drunk and being mopey about his ex-girlfriend, who was deported in the previous season.

As Meredith stopped him from further humiliating himself as he gave a speech to the guests when Jo and Alex were locked in a tool shed, the pair were walking when Meredith motivated Andrew to put himself back out there and complemented his face.

A drunk Andrew took that as an opportunity to kiss Meredith, which she appreciated but immediately shut down.

It appears that the pair will indeed hit the sheets however, and the hookup will give Andrew the confidence to get back up and out there in the dating world.

“He does bounce back,” Vernoff told TVLine. “Meredith’s pep talk helped, and in the premiere, there’s a situation where his brain sort of gets flooded with adrenaline, and that jerks him out of the last of that depression. So he comes into Season 15 with a new energy that’s sexy and funny.”

As for Meredith, Vernoff previously teased she would have multiple suitors in the upcoming season, and that some of them would be shocking viewers — likely referring to her hookup with DeLuca.

“Yes, [Mer]’s a single mom, and that complicates a dating life. And yes, she’s a surgical marvel with new, game changing medical ideas she’ll be pursuing,” Vernoff told TVLine back in August. “But she also hasn’t dated at all since [Martin Henderson’s] Nathan Riggs left [in Season 14]. And the one-two punch of meeting [Scott Speedman’s] Nick Marsh awoke a desire in her that she can’t put back to sleep.”

Grey’s Anatomy will return for its 15th season with a two-hour season premiere on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.