A new Grey's Anatomy spinoff will be coming to ABC.
The end of Grey's Anatomy season 22 said goodbye to veteran cast members Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver, with Dr. Owen Hunt and Dr. Teddy Altman both scrubbing out. But as the hospital soap continues to be a reliable source of viewership, it is setting the stage for a new spinoff and the return of creator Shonda Rhimes.
Deadline reports that ABC has given a straight-to-series order to a Grey's Anatomy spinoff, which is set in Texas. It'll be co-created, written and executive produced by Rhimes and Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis. It hails from Shondaland and 20th Television, with its premiere window set for 2027. A more specific date has not been announced.
Grey's Anatomy star and executive producer Ellen Pompeo will also serve as an EP on the spinoff, which is described as an edgy drama about a team at a rural West Texas medical center that serves as the last chance for care for miles and miles. It will be the third spinoff to air on ABC after Private Practice and Station 19.
Although details about the Texas-set spinoff are currently scarce, the report indicates that it will be focused on a new group of doctors. In keeping with the tradition set by past Grey's spinoffs, it will include connections to the main show. Currently untitled, the rural Texas setting is notable for being the first Grey's show located outside a big city.
Marinis, also an executive producer on Grey's, reacted to the spinoff news in a statement. She spoke about her work on Grey's for more than a decade, as well as her home state of Texas. The statement is included below:
“I am incredibly excited to expand the Grey’s Anatomy universe. This opportunity will bring new characters and stories to life that will embody the same heart, emotion and connection audiences have loved from Grey’s for more than two decades — all set in my home state of Texas. I am so grateful to Shonda Rhimes for creating this dynamic world and feel so fortunate that I get to be a part of it.”
The spinoff notably marks the first time that Rhimes has co-written an episode in the Grey's Anatomy franchise since the season 11 installment "How to Save a Life", which focused on the death of Derek Shepherd. Even though Rhimes is currently based at Netflix, where she's helped to create the Bridgerton franchise, the new show falls outside of her current deal with the streamer since it is part of the Grey's universe rather than an entirely new series.
Although it is one of the longest-running dramas on broadcast television, heading into Grey's Anatomy season 23, it remains one of the most-watched. It ended its current installment with an increase in the overall audience. It is also an absolute juggernaut on streaming, standing out as a consistent presence on Nielsen's Top 10 streaming charts each week.
Neither spinoff of Grey's Anatomy has had quite the same run. Private Practice bowed out after six seasons. Station 19, meanwhile, lasted for seven and concluded relatively recently in May 2024. But as ABC moves to make franchises of its dramas, as it has done with 9-1-1 and The Rookie, the new Texas show will be worth sampling for Rhimes' return and the change of pace promised by the premise.
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.
Be the first to comment on this article!