‘Station 19’ Could Shed Light on Aborted Original ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season Finale

Grey’s Anatomy Season 16 may have been forced to wrap its season early due to the coronavirus pandemic, but spinoff series Station 19 may shed a little light on what was supposed to happen in the actual season finale. Although the ABC medical drama’s original finale was never filmed, the season instead coming to an early end last week, the shared universe with Station 19 and the intended crossover episodes to come in that series’ currently-airing season may prove to be spoiler-heavy, Grey’s showrunner Krista Vernoff revealed.

“Ironically, when fans watch Episode 15 and 16 of Station 19, they will probably have a feeling of some of what we had planned for [the original Grey’s finale],” Vernoff told TVLine. “This is the strangest thing any of us have ever experienced in our lifetimes. And, creatively, it is presenting unique challenges, for sure.”

The intended crossover episodes give way to plenty of problems in light of the current circumstances, as Station 19 has finished full production on its season. As Cinemablend points out, potentially one of the biggest problems “is whether there were storylines from Grey’s Anatomy that were intended to bleed over into Station 19 and impact the crew there.”

TVLine previously reported that the intended Grey’s Season 16 finale, which was one of a total of four episodes scrapped when production was shut down, was set to feature “a cataclysmic event that would have likely claimed the life of a major character.” That rumor was confirmed by sources, with one source claiming that the event was set to be an explosion. Although Vernoff has refrained from confirming or denying the speculation, she did confirm that steps were being taken to prevent the crossover episodes from being too spoiler-heavy. According to Vernoff, she has edited select Grey’s content out of Station 19.

Currently, the fate of the remaining four episodes of Season 16 remain in limbo. Vernoff previously said that she plans to “gather the writers in about four weeks, and we’re going to start talking about Season 17.” She added that she is unsure if the team will “use what we had planned for the last four episodes,” explaining that “we may come up with some different ways to tell some of these stories.” She also claimed that she does “not have a plan to shake up the cast next season.”