‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 13 to Open With (Emotionally) Explosive Drama

Grey’s Anatomy, ABC’s No. 1 drama, returns for its 13th season in September with a bang — as well as a renewed focus on its original cast.

Season 12 ended with Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) saying “I do,” while Jo (Camilla Luddington) and Alex (Justin Chambers) are at odds after a misunderstanding that resulted in Alex pummeling Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti). Then there’s a love triangle brewing after Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) slept with Nathan (Martin Henderson) as her sister Maggie (Kelly McCreary) declared her feelings for the same guy.

To hear Scorsone tell it, season 13 will pick up immediately after the finale and begin, in well, typical Grey’s fashion.

“Immediately on the tail of Amelia and Owen’s wedding, there’s a big explosive drama that’s happening right away,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter, noting that it doesn’t have anything to do with Amelia and Owen, who will be otherwise occupied on their wedding night. “On Grey’s Anatomy it could be a literal explosion, but in this case, it’s emotionally explosive. It’s going to be a key story this year that a lot of people are going to be interested in.”

While that may eliminate the appearance of Owen’s presumed dead sister (and Nathan’s love interest) Megan, Scorsone won’t rule out her appearance “coming down the pike.”

Overall, season 13 will focus on the show’s original stars — Meredith, Alex, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Richard (James Pickens Jr.), who all just inked new deals to return to the veteran drama.

“There is going to be a lot of checking in with the original cast; we love them so much and there has been such a renaissance with the show that it’s nice to focus on the core pieces that have been there since the very beginning,” Scorsone says, referring to the unlikely accomplishment that a show in its 13th season would be back on top at the network.

As for Meredith, Scorsone noted that while Amelia may be moving out of the “Sister House,” the siblings’ dynamic will still be front and center come season 13.

“Meredith has Maggie still helping with the kids and they’re going to have an interesting dynamic this year based on the whole Nathan love triangle,” she says, noting that her personal pregnancy will not be written into Grey’s this season. “Even though Amelia is moving out of the house, the sister dynamic is going to be central to her storyline. Those relationships — female relationships in general — and familial female relationships are so underexplored in our popular media. We’re really going to focus on those relationships.”

For Alex, Jo and Andrew, meanwhile, season 13 will begin with the wake of Alex’s beat-down of Andrew and Jo’s decision about whether or not to tell her boyfriend that she’s already married.

“Jo has got to decide whether she wants to use this opportunity to finally come clean to Alex about her past or if it’s just too great and she’ll keep burying the secret. But if she chooses to bury the secret, she chooses to lose Alex,” Gianniotti says.

Andrew, however, will have a more central role with Alex this season than ever after the brutal beating. “Because Alex misinterpreted the situation and beat DeLuca so badly, he’s going to have a lot of legal consequences to deal with,” he says.

The actor, promoted to series regular last season, hopes to see Andrew taken a bit more seriously by his peers as he looks to figure out his specialty in season 13. Naturally, that could bring him closer to Alex as Grey’s looks to up the drama between the duo.

“He’s a natural in pediatrics, even though he didn’t really like to do it,” Gianniotti says. “Alex and Andrew relate a lot together and last season was building toward DeLuca being inducted into working with pediatrics. With all the things that have happened with DeLuca and Alex and creating a workspace where the two of them are working together, that could be very tense after what’s happened.”

Season 13 of Grey’s Anatomy premieres Thursday, Sept. 22, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Hit the comments below with your thoughts and hopes for the new season.