Grey's Anatomy has written Kevin McKidd's Owen Hunt out of the hospital, and hired McKidd to direct its next episode. Season 23 premiered on October 15 without McKidd or Kim Raver as series regulars. Episode 2, "Slippin' and Slidin'", airs on October 22, directed by McKidd, according to Wikipedia's episode list.
In the premiere, Owen and Teddy are in France. Their absence got one line: Winston complains that he has to pick up their cases.
The first season without them
According to Wikipedia, season 23 is the first not to feature McKidd and Raver as series regulars since the fifth and fifteenth seasons respectively. The season was announced on March 30, 2026.
- Episode 1, "Collide" (No. 467 overall): directed by Debbie Allen, written by showrunner Meg Marinis and Jess Righthand. Aired October 15.
- Episode 2, "Slippin' and Slidin'": directed by Kevin McKidd, written by Michelle Lirtzman. Airs October 22.
- Main cast: Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr., Caterina Scorsone, Camilla Luddington, Jason George, Chris Carmack, Anthony Hill, Alexis Floyd and Harry Shum Jr., among others.
"The first time jump in four years", or in one
The premiere picked up a month after the season 22 finale. Deadline's interview with Marinis introduces it as the show's first time jump between seasons in four years. A few paragraphs later, the interviewer's own question calls it "the first time jump since Grey's introduced the new interns at the start of Season 22".
Both cannot be right. Season 22 was the previous season. Four years ago was season 19, which premiered on October 6, 2022, and in which, according to Wikipedia, Meredith revived the residency program as interim chief and recruited the new interns. The "four years" fits; the "Season 22" looks like a slip.
Marinis gave two reasons for the jump. It let the writers build the hospital's new VIP floor, which had not been seen in the finale. And she did not know whether she would have Scott Speedman, who is also starring in ABC's R.J. Decker, and the finale had left his character in a hospital bed.
A businessman in Teddy's office
The premiere's big addition is James Wolk as Seth Norton, a surgeon turned businessman whose company, Olympic Regent Health, backed the luxury VIP suite. His focus on the bottom line put him straight into conflict with Meredith. At the end of the episode he was revealed as Grey Sloan's new chief of surgery, Teddy's old job.
The hospital lost two longtime doctors to France, and gave the chief's office to an executive.
Jo quits, but Luddington stays
In the final seconds of the premiere, Jo told Link she had quit her job, after a coding patient triggered memories of her own near-death experience giving birth to their twins.
That does not mean Camilla Luddington is leaving. Marinis told Deadline that Jo will not be at the hospital "in a regular employed fashion", but will remain on the show: "She might be at the hospital, but not working shifts every day like she was in the past." She also stressed that it is not like Amelia's sabbatical last season, when the character was not seen. Luddington has played Jo since season 9 in 2012.
What Marinis promises next
On Jo, Marinis said the show will explain her triggers in later episodes. "After suffering an almost death experience, when she sees other people doing the same, for me that is a trigger," she told Deadline. "That elevator was definitely a trigger." Whether Jo regrets quitting or is reaffirmed in it, she said, "we'll [see] that play out".
Asked whether Ben keeping Winston and Jules' secret for a month is a Chekhov's gun that will eventually go off, she answered: "It's that one." On Meredith's new boss, the premiere has already set up the conflict: Norton's focus on the bottom line against Meredith's compassion, with him now running the hospital where she works.
The rest of the premiere
- Simone discovered she is pregnant.
- Meredith and Nick are still engaged, though she is not wearing a ring. Marinis says Meredith "has never really worn a ring, even when she was with Derek".
- Ellen Pompeo's episode count is not fixed. "We don't have an exact number because we always need to wait to see how our schedule is," Marinis said.
The Texas spinoff
Deadline asked about the Grey's Anatomy spinoff set in Texas, which it had heard was pushed from a fall start to January. Marinis, who is developing it with Shonda Rhimes, would not give dates: "I can't release anything yet on timing."
What is still unknown
- Whether Owen and Teddy will return as guests. The premiere only mentioned them.
- How many episodes McKidd will direct this season.
- How long Seth Norton stays chief.
- When the Texas spinoff starts filming.
Grey's Anatomy sent Owen Hunt to France in its season 23 premiere. A week later, the actor who played him is back at Grey Sloan, behind the camera.