Warning: SPOILERS about Grey’s Anatomy season 18 ahead.
With April 7th's Grey’s Anatomy season 18, episode 15 being the most recent episode of the medical drama to have aired, one may wonder when Shondaland’s longest-running TV show will return. Before this hiatus, the longest break Grey’s Anatomy season 18 had happened quite early, with the show stopping for its winter break on December 16. Grey’s Anatomy returned with the second half of season 18 after the end of the 2022 Winter Olympics on February 24.
After Grey’s Anatomy season 17 focused almost entirely on how the Covid-19 pandemic stretched the medical workforce too thin and how it impacted Grey Sloan Memorial doctors’ wellbeing, season 18 had to regain its footing with its characters’ stories being set in a post-pandemic world. With its dwindling viewership continuing throughout Grey’s Anatomy season 18, as its ratings show, the medical drama introduced a couple of storylines that might hint at the show’s end being close, chiefly Meredith’s splitting her working hours between Seattle and Rochester in Minnesota. The conflict this decision caused culminated in Grey’s Anatomy season 18, episode 15 when David Hamilton’s (Peter Gallagher) offer to Meredith became apparent to the Grey Sloan Memorial staff. This prompted Meredith’s shocking choice about what answer to give Hamilton, which let Grey’s Anatomy start its most recent hiatus with a few cliffhangers.
Grey’s Anatomy season 18, episode 16 is set to return to ABC on Thursday, May 5, 2022. Instead of a new episode, ABC aired two Grey’s Anatomy season 2 audience-favorite episodes on April 14, dubbing it "Grey’s Anatomy Throwback Thursday," and the 2019 action-adventure blockbuster Jumanji: The Next Level on April 21. What will air instead of Grey’s Anatomy on April 28 in its final week on hiatus is yet to be announced.
What To Expect From The Rest of Grey's Anatomy Season 18
Five episodes of Grey’s Anatomy season 18 are left, with its season finale and 400th episode both airing on May 26. It’s clear from Meredith’s realization in season 18, episode 15 and episode 16’s title, “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” that much of what Grey’s Anatomy season 18 still needs to explore hinges on Meredith’s workload being split between Seattle and Rochester. The mere uncovering of Meredith’s Minnesota job offer caused heightened negative reactions from both Richard (James Pickens Jr.) and Maggie (Kelly McCreary) and a health scare for Bailey (Chandra Wilson). Grey’s Anatomy season 18, episode 16 will clearly have to explore the aftermath of Meredith’s decision to accept the Minnesota job, especially if she does so at the moment Grey Sloan Memorial needs her the most.
The other major storyline Grey’s Anatomy season 18 will need to resolve revolves around the probation status of Grey Sloan’s residency program. The possibility of the hospital losing the chance to teach medicine to its residents, something it has done Grey’s Anatomy's first episode, would be the worst possible outcome for Grey Sloan. As this storyline was set up by season 17’s Covid-19 shortage of physicians and resulted in this huge looming threat to Grey Sloan Memorial hospital’s core, it’s highly likely that the last five episodes of Grey’s Anatomy season 18 will focus on it.
New episodes of Grey’s Anatomy will return Thursday, May 5 on ABC.