‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 15 Earns 3 Additional Episodes

Grey’s Anatomy‘s 15th season will be a little bit longer, with ABC ordering additional episodes of the beloved medical drama.

The network announced Monday the addition of three more episodes to the original season 15 order, making it a total of 25 episodes. The new order makes Season 15 the longest season order for Grey’s in more than a decade, the show had 25 episodes for Season 3 and 27 episodes for Season 2.

The new order comes as the medical drama ranks as ABC’s No. 1 series for the 2018-19 broadcast season, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The show is averaging a 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, an impressive rating for such a long-running series.

Grey’s Anatomy will hit a massive landmark this season as it is set to break ER‘s record as television’s longest medical drama in either February or March.

The series will likely continue past Season 15 and as long as Pompeo wishes for it to continue. Her latest contract runs until the end of a potential 16th season, which is only waiting for an official renewal announcement.

Season 15 of Grey’s Anatomy is finally diving into the story of Meredith Grey (Pompeo) finding her next big love, following the Season 11 death of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey).

After a few weeks of blind dates and subtle flirtation, the series established a new love triangle during the fall finale. Meredith found herself agreeing to get a drink with Link (Chris Carmack) minutes before Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) confessed to her that he had feelings for her and he was putting his name up for consideration.

The possible couple was also caught in an uncomfortable position, due to a blackout at the hospital that left them stranded inside the elevator as they were on their way to an emergency transplant surgery.

The extended episode order also comes a few months after Pompeo teased the possible conclusion of the series could come sooner than we think.

“I’m clearly not prepared right now to make any formal announcement about what my future is on the show, but I am feeling like we have told the majority of the stories we can tell,” Pompeo told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the Season 15 premiere. “It’s about time that I mix it up. I’m definitely looking for a change.”

With Season 16 possibly being the end, creator Shonda Rhimes — who stepped away from the show and gave showrunning reins to Krista Vernoff ahead of Season 14 — promised to return to write the eventual series finale.

“I have written the end of the show at least six times,” Rhimes told the outlet at the time. “But we just don’t end. Every time I thought, ‘This is how the show should end,’ we’ve gone past those moments, so I’ve stopped trying. I have no idea now.”

Grey’s Anatomy returns with new episodes Thursday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.