Grey's Anatomy has spent more than 20 years delivering every kind of crisis and tragedy imaginable to the city of Seattle, and even once had a spinoff to raise the stakes even higher for the people who live in Meredith Grey's world in Washington state. That world expanded further with the spinoff titled Station 19, and now another show set in that TV universe is on the way from ABC.
News of the spinoff broke shortly after the season 22 finale that set viewers up for an eventful Grey's Anatomy season 23, but it wasn't to shed light on star Harry Shum Jr.'s comments about Dr. Kwan getting fired. The spinoff won't arrive alongside season 23 in the fall, but will be held for 2027 to air alongside shows like High Potential season 3, The Rookie season 9, and Will Trent season 5.
Add on the success of ABC's 9-1-1 franchise when it comes to launching spinoffs, and the new project has a lot going for it already compared to Station 19, which ended for good in 2024. However, there are enough key differences from Station 19 that the new Grey's Anatomy spinoff has a better recipe for long-term success. The project will be a fresh start for the franchise in many ways, as the medical action will take place in rural Texas at a hospital where the doctors have challenges that the surgeons at Grey Sloan never have to deal with.
Grey's Anatomy's Texas Spinoff Isn't Reliant On The Flagship (Like Station 19 Was)
While details about the kinds of characters who will be front and center in the spinoff are scarce at the time of writing, the hospital will be located in a remote enough area of West Texas that it's the last chance for care for many miles. There are expected to be connections to the original show, with Deadline reporting that Grey's Anatomy's Catherine Fox, played by Debbie Allen, could appear to keep the two projects connected.
But it's already clear that the new show isn't going to be as reliant on Grey's Anatomy as Station 19 was, thanks to that remote West Texas setting. Station 19 even launched by bringing a Grey's Anatomy doctor over to the Seattle Fire Department to try his hand at becoming a firefighter. (Jason George's Dr. Ben Warren returned to Grey Sloan after Station 19 ended.) The two series aired back-to-back on ABC's Thursday nights and frequently crossed over.
In fact, they so frequently crossed over that it often felt like a requirement to watch both shows just to keep track of what was happening. Even if you loved Station 19 but didn't care about Grey's Anatomy (or vice versa), you had to watch both. It became both exhausting and frustrating by the end. Station 19 truly did feel a lot more like a direct offshoot of the original than Kate Walsh's Private Practice ever did.
Station 19 admittedly was a solid hit for ABC, with a run of seven seasons and 105 episodes. Still, even now, it only feels like Station 19 became so successful because it was so closely connected to Grey's Anatomy, to the point that it's not even surprising if Station 19 characters pop up on the ongoing show.
Why A Texas-Based Grey's Anatomy Spinoff Is Better Than Another Show Set In Seattle
Setting a spinoff in Texas really requires it to start from scratch, regardless of whether Catherine Fox or any other Grey's Anatomy characters suddenly feel the need to visit the rural Southwest. Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver didn't leave the parent series to star as Owen and Teddy in the spinoff, as some might have expected after news of their exits broke. The new show is starting with such a blank slate that ABC hasn't even confirmed the title just yet.
It'll be a fresh take on a franchise that has already tried spinoffs that have strong ties to Grey's Anatomy. Private Practice was another hit for ABC, and it was set in Los Angeles rather than practically right next door to Grey Sloan in Seattle, like Station 19 was. Still, with Kate Walsh reprising her role as Addison Montgomery, Private Practice's ties to Grey's Anatomy were impossible to ignore.
The franchise certainly has a history of using existing characters to launch new entries in the franchise. Both of the two hit spinoffs so far have had such strong connections to Grey's Anatomy that Jackson reuniting with April seemed like a setup for a Japril spinoff set in Boston, with Jesse Williams commenting on the spinoff possibility.
The Texas series could launch without any pre-existing romantic entanglements or fans already feeling loyal to some characters more than others. The new location could help it feel like a totally new show while still part of the same universe. That approach worked for several seasons of 9-1-1: Lone Star, and is now working again for ABC with 9-1-1: Nashville.
How Grey's Anatomy's Texas Spinoff Can Connect To The Flagship
None of this is to say that setting the medical drama action in Texas means the spinoff will only feel slightly connected to Grey's Anatomy. In addition to the rumor that Catherine Fox could be a bridge between them, there are plenty of other veterans from the original shows (as well as Station 19 and Private Practice) who could appear. Both Jesse Williams and Sarah Drew appeared on Grey's Anatomy after exiting the show as series regulars, and Kate Walsh has dropped in and out over the years, as just a few examples. The spinoff could do something similar.
If the two hospitals are connected in an administrative capacity, as Catherine's inclusion might suggest, then occasional crossovers between Grey's Anatomy and its newest offshoot could make much more sense than those between 9-1-1 and its spinoffs. Sure, doctors from Texas might not be the best fit to fly up to Seattle in the event of a ferry crisis or the latest hospital explosion, and the rural setting makes it sound like a log to get any Grey Sloan doctors to the new hospital. But connections are there.
And frankly, there are enough former Grey's Anatomy stars from the past 22 seasons that it's not hard to imagine some of them being up for at least a recurring guest stint. The new project could be connected enough to the original that existing fans will love it, without episodes regularly feeling like half of a two-parter, like what happened with Station 19 and Grey's Anatomy. The freshman series and season 23 are expected to air back-to-back on Thursdays in 2027, so ABC is giving the Texas-set spinoff the strongest push possible for next year.
20 Years Later, 'Grey's Anatomy' Needs To Stop Expanding
Once upon a time, the newest addition to the Grey's Anatomy roster felt like a special occasion, and there were various reasons for this, particularly the fact that someone could potentially die in increasingly ridiculous ways. But one of the biggest reasons was how well the show conveyed who the main characters were as individuals compared to virtually all other shows on network television.
Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), and George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) built a strong connection with audiences throughout the first several seasons of the show. While all the medical calamities were very entertaining, they were ultimately worth watching only because they affected the lives of the central characters. As a result, when looking forward to ABC's Grey's Anatomy spin-off, it doesn't feel as exciting as it probably should.
The untitled series, co-created by Shonda Rhimes and current Grey’s showrunner Meg Marinis, will move the franchise to rural West Texas for the first time. Instead of centering on an established Grey’s character like Private Practice did with Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) or Station 19 did with Ben Warren (Jason George), this series will reportedly focus on an entirely new group of doctors.
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Already Feels Like a Different Show Than the One Fans Fell in Love With
Katherine Heigl, TR Knight, and Sandra Oh in an episode of Grey's Anatomy
Grey’s Anatomy has survived longer than almost anyone expected. It can be quite hard for a network drama to last upwards of 20 seasons, especially when it’s based on a rotating cast. Nonetheless, the amount of time a show has been on air and its continuing imaginative flow differ vastly. The original magic of the show stemmed from the comedic representation of dysfunctional, yet loving relationships and genuine emotional stories. Longtime fans of the show think that, as a whole, it has changed since it first began airing. The medical cases mattered more, but they also played a part in these characters' lives. The show struck a balance between that and never losing sight of the interns trying to survive impossible hours while ruining each other’s lives in on-call rooms.
Nowadays, it just seems like Grey's is trying to redo all of that. The show still knows how to manufacture cliffhangers, complete with explosions, hostage situations, near-death experiences, and surprise pregnancies, but there’s a growing sense that the series is repeating emotional beats instead of building toward anything meaningful. That’s part of why so many fans point to earlier seasons as the show’s natural endpoint. Some argue that Season 10 would have been the right place to stop after Cristina’s departure, while others think the COVID-focused Season 17 could have worked as a surprisingly poignant conclusion. There are even viewers who believe Season 14’s wedding-centered finale, “All of Me,” gave several core characters the closest thing the series has ever had to a satisfying ending. Instead, Grey’s kept going. And now, years after Pompeo stepped back from being the show’s full-time lead, ABC is preparing to expand the universe even further.
‘Private Practice’ Worked Because It Had a Reason To Exist
The cast of Private Practice in a promotional image.
Private Practice made sense because Addison was one of the franchise’s most beloved characters. The show also had a clear identity separate from Grey’s Anatomy. It traded Seattle’s chaotic surgical energy for a more intimate, slower-paced character drama in Los Angeles. Whether viewers loved it or not, it justified its existence almost immediately. On the other hand, Station 19 had a harder time carving out its own personality, but at least it still felt connected to the larger Grey’s world through familiar characters and frequent crossovers.
This new series doesn’t have either of those components just yet — news did just break, but where will the connections come from? Right now, the pitch mostly sounds like “Grey’s, but make it Texas.” That may change once casting details and storylines emerge, but it was the first impression fans got. A franchise can only expand so many times before audiences start noticing the machinery behind it.
ABC is turning nearly all of its biggest scripted dramas into franchises. 9-1-1 now has Nashville, The Rookie is getting The Rookie: North. One of the only ones missing is Grey's. Network television has become obsessed with expandable universes because recognizable IP is safer than launching something original from scratch. Viewers and advertisers know the name, and the network already knows there’s a built-in audience, but television history is full of franchises that kept growing long after the creative spark faded.
The Bigger Problem Is What the Spinoff Says About ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Dylan Young (Kyle Chandler) carefully guiding Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) through removing a bomb in Grey's Anatomy.
What makes the timing of this announcement especially strange is that Grey’s Anatomy itself is reportedly receiving reduced episode orders for budget reasons, so while the flagship series gets smaller, the franchise keeps getting bigger. ABC clearly still sees enormous value in Grey’s Anatomy as a brand. The ratings remain solid, and the streaming numbers are strong because viewers have been tuning in to the show for numerous reasons over the course of 20 years, including as a habit, out of loyalty or nostalgia, or through an emotional connection with the show's veteran characters.
However, a show can continue to survive, sometimes for a very long time, but not necessarily have a chance to evolve. The medical drama genre has taken on a whole new approach since Grey's Anatomy began airing in 2005. The success of HBO Max's The Pitt, among others, relies heavily on the relatable realism and the emotional exhaustion that many viewers experience after watching Grey's, as well as Grey's original "glossy" style appearing more and more like an extreme version of reality TV, while maintaining some of its original elements (which was a huge part of the show's original appeal).
Yet it is hard to ignore that we, as viewers, currently see Grey's generating momentum towards a franchise rather than creative urgency. This does not indicate that the new spin-off will undoubtedly be a failure; after 20 years, Grey's has proven its critics wrong. Texas could bring a refreshing change of pace to the series. Perhaps a new group of doctors will strike a similar chord with viewers, just as they once did with Meredith and Cristina or George and Izzie.
It would just be nice if Grey's Anatomy just ended as we know it and aired reruns of Seasons 1-10. So many people would be here for that.
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