Season 17 of Grey’s Anatomy has been pulling out all the stops in terms of shocking returns. With Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) in a COVID coma, the writers created a “mind beach” conceit in order for her to revisit people that she’s lost over the course of the show. Her husband, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), has shown up a couple of times, as well as George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) and the recently deceased Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti). In the promo for April 1’s episode, another emotional return was teased: Chyler Leigh‘s Lexie Grey.
The promo states that Lexie is “the surprise beach guest that you’ve been waiting for,” and that is definitely true judging by the online reaction to this reveal. Lexie joined the show in season three as Meredith’s paternal half-sister, becoming a series regular in season four. Lexie was a fan-favorite, and her on-again-off-again relationship with Eric Dane’s Mark Sloan (When is his time on the beach?) is one of the show’s most popular romances. Lexie and Mark were both killed in the season 8 finale plane crash.
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You’ve been waiting for this one ๐ pic.twitter.com/HlX6d8rO56
โ Greys Anatomy (@GreysABC) March 26, 2021
Meredith and Lexie’s relationship progression was one of the best things Grey’s ever did, and fans on Twitter are already celebrating at the brief glimpse of Little Grey. “The way we all thought we were clowns for thinking lexie was gonna come back,” one fan tweeted. “AND NOW SHE [ACTUALLY] IS.”
And breathe, just breathe
Woah breathe, just breathe…LEXIE GREY IS COMING BACK#greysanatomy pic.twitter.com/rb4YnX7ttc
โ ฯะฝั ricะบ ะฒัยงgrey๐ฆ (@vktulip) March 26, 2021
“STFU MY BABYGIRL IS BACK LEXIE GREY I MISSED YOU SO MUCH I LOVE U,” wrote another fan, summing up the general reaction to Lexie’s return. Grey’s Anatomy was even the number one trending item on Twitter over this news, proving that the show still has juice after all these years.
I can’t even begin to explain the absolute level of weeping that occurred seeing Chyler Leigh as Lexie Grey again. Lexie is forever my absolute favorite #GreysAnatomy character and wow I am speechless just by this promo pic.twitter.com/S9YFhZxgot
โ Nora Dominick (@noradominick) March 26, 2021