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| Showrunner: | Meg Marinis |
| Network: | ABC |
| Num Episodes: | 10 |
The twentieth season of the American medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy was announced on March 24, 2023, and premiered in the United States on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on March 14, 2024. Meg Marinis took over as showrunner after Krista Vernoff, who departed from the series after the previous season.[1]
This is the first season not to feature Jesse Williams since the sixth season and the first season not to feature Kelly McCreary and Scott Speedman as series regulars since the eleventh and eighteenth seasons, respectively.[2] Ellen Pompeo retains her series regular status, as well as continuing to provide voiceover for every episode and appearing in five episodes of the season. On April 2, 2024, ABC renewed the series for a twenty-first season.[3]
See also: List of Grey's Anatomy cast members and List of Grey's Anatomy characters.
See also: List of Grey's Anatomy episodes.
On March 24, 2023, ABC renewed the show for a milestone twentieth season to premiere during the 2023-24 television season.
On January 25, 2023, ahead of the official Season 20 renewal, Krista Vernoff announced her departure as showrunner from Grey's and its spin-off series Station 19, however, she will still be attached to the show as an executive producer and through her company Trip the Light Productions.[6] Two months later, on the day the series was renewed, Meg Marinis was announced to take the role as showrunner after Vernoff's departure. Marinis has been working on the show since the third season as a writer's production assistant, and was promoted to executive producer on the fifteenth season; she has written more than 25 episodes of the series to date.[1]
The production of the season was delayed due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in the United States. Due to this, the season will have a short run of 10 episodes, the shortest since the first season, which ran for 9 episodes.[7]
On November 15, 2023, the first table read for the season premiere took place, as shared by actors Camilla Luddington, Midori Francis, Adelaide Kane, Anthony Hill and James Pickens, Jr. through Instagram stories. Filming for the season began a couple of days later.
On May 18, 2023, hours before the premiere of the previous season finale, it was announced the return of the two remaining original castmates Chandra Wilson and James Pickens, Jr. portraying their characters Dr. Miranda Bailey and Dr. Richard Webber, respectively; as well as the return of long-time cast members Kevin McKidd, Kim Raver, Camilla Luddington and Caterina Scorsone to portray Dr. Owen Hunt, Dr. Teddy Altman, Dr. Jo Wilson and Dr. Amelia Shepherd, respectively. Wilson and Pickens, Jr. had been on the series since its inception, while McKidd, Luddington, Scorsone and Raver had been starring on the series since the fifth, tenth, eleventh and fifteenth seasons, respectively, additionally, Scorsone first portrayed her character on the Grey's spin-off series Private Practice from 2010 to 2013 and Raver was also a main cast member during Grey's' early years, from 2010 to 2012, before re-joining the cast on 2018.
This will be the first season not to feature Kelly McCreary as a series regular; she played Dr. Maggie Pierce who first appeared on the series at the final episodes of the tenth season and started starring mid-way through the eleventh season.[2] She however, will make a guest appearance during the ninth episode of the season.
Additionally, series' star Ellen Pompeo who portrays the series' protagonist Dr. Meredith Grey will not return as a series regular, however, she is expected to appear in at least 4 of the 10 episodes of the season, and will continue to narrate the episodes and serve as one of the executive producers of the show.[8] Pompeo retained her series regular status throughout the season.
Other cast members expected to recur throughout the season are Debbie Allen, Jaicy Elliot and Scott Speedman as Drs. Catherine Fox, Taryn Helm & Nick Marsh, respectively. Speedman joined the main cast on season 18 and remained being credited as "starring" through most of season 19, however, he was demoted to recurring status.
On February 10, 2024, it was announced the return of Jessica Capshaw and Alex Landi to portray their characters Dr. Arizona Robbins and Dr. Nico Kim, respectively as guest stars. Capshaw starred on the show from 2009 to 2018 and was last seen on the fourteenth's season finale "All of Me", while Landi made recurring appearances on the show from 2018 to 2022.[9] As shared by Capshaw through an Instagram post, the character of Arizona is scheduled to return during the fourth episode of the season to premiere on April 4, 2024.[10] On that same note, it was also announced the casting of Natalie Morales and Freddy Miyares as guest stars, Morales will play pediatric surgeon Monica Beltran, while Miyares will play Dorian, a patient who is involved in a serious accident.[5]