Will ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Write in Camilla Luddington’s Pregnancy?

Camilla Luddington is happily expecting her second child with husband Matthew Alan, but will the real life pregnancy news be written into her Grey’s Anatomy character’s storyline? Luddington’s onscreen counterpart, Jo Wilson, was recently thrown a major heartbreak when her husband, Justin Chambers’ Dr. Alex Karev, abruptly ditched Seattle to reignite a former flame, meaning that adding in a surprise pregnancy would only up the drama.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy Season 16, Episode 16, “Leave a Light On.”

In last Thursday’s episode, Alex revealed via a series of letters that he had traveled to Kansas to be with Izzie Stevens after learning that she was raising their 5-year-old twins, Eli and Alexis. In his letter to Jo, he wrote that “I need to give these kids the family you and I never had” and that “when I told you I loved you, I meant it, but Izzie has our kids,” revealing that he had also signed divorce papers.

Although Luddington’s pregnancy news would being written into the series would likely draw plenty of eyes, as TV Line reports, it seems unlikely that the ABC medical drama will go down that route.

“As entertaining as it might be to speculate that Grey’s will write in Luddington’s second pregnancy… and thus give birth to a bouncing bundle of dramatic irony, the fact is that the show has kept hidden the actress’ pregnancy for months already,” the outlet writes, referencing Luddington’s own pregnancy announcement, in which she revealed that she had been “hiding” the pregnancy for months.

The outlet adds that “it would appear that ship has sailed.”

In fact, Grey’s Anatomy has a history of choosing not to incorporate the cast’s baby news into the series. Along with Luddington’s own experience with just that – the series filmed around her first pregnancy with daughter Hayden Allen during Season 13 – Grey’s also hid star Ellen Pompeo’s pregnancy during Season 6.

According to Zimbio, Pompeo’s Dr. Meredith Grey was only filmed from the shoulders up to hide her growing baby belly. She was also given four weeks off during the later stage of her pregnancy, with the series explaining Meredith’s absence with a storyline in which she donated part of her liver to her estranged father.

The following season, Jessica Capshaw’s Arizona Robbins was sent to Africa for a number of episodes as the actress was pregnant, Entertainment Weekly reports.

New episodes of Grey’s Anatomy air Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.