“I am planning a season and ending that could work as a season finale or a series finale,” host Krista Vernoff told The Hollywood Reporter.
For the first time in a few years, Grey’s Anatomy is coming to the end of its current season with a big question mark about its future.
ABC’s medical drama starring Ellen Pompeo from creator Shonda Rhimes is in its 17th season, with renewal negotiations underway for months. As the series returns for its mid-season debut this week, showrunner Krista Vernoff is dealing with the show’s uncertain future with two contingencies in mind.
“I am planning a season and an ending that can work as a station final or one Series final “, said Vernoff The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. “I am planning both contingencies and it is difficult and it is not ideal. It is not where I would like us to be.”
Sources count THR Renewal negotiations have been underway for months between Disney, ABC’s father, and protagonist Pompeo, who in late 2017 signed a new contract that made her the highest-paid actress on her television in a prime-time drama series. That pact covered seasons 15 and 16 of the series, with ABC extending the deal to cover season 17 as part of a two-year pickup in 2019. Pompeo, who was a vocalist on a THR cover story on the fight for the salary she deserved with the hope of inspiring other women in the sector to do the same, is seeing a salary increase again as part of the renewal discussions.
In its 17th season, Grey’s Anatomy remains a great asset for ABC and Disney. The series is classified as ABC’s # 1 drama series among the total viewers and the adult population aged 18 to 49, coveted by advertisers. The series is a global phenomenon and broadcast worldwide. It has also become a dairy cow with a rich streaming business on Netflix, where it is rated as one of the company’s most watched acquired programs.
In addition to starring, Pompeo exec produces both Gray and his spin-off focused on the fireman, Station 19. Both dramas are produced by Rhimes ‘Shondaland and remain Rhimes’ last shows for the network before she moved to a nine-figure general agreement with Netflix. Rhimes said for years Gray it would last as long as Pompeo wanted to do the series. The productive production company, which successfully launched its first Netflix title in December Bridgerton, Vernoff handpicked to take on the display functions in Gray. Vernoff was the principal writer for Gray for her first seven seasons and returned as a showrunner in season 14. She also oversees Station 19 and has his first solo show, Rebel, due to ABC in April.
Vernoff said THR that she asked ABC executives to find out about the series’s fate before production at the end of season 17. “I told them that I need to know before I get to the end of what we are doing,” she said. “Because there are some lines of character that are going to change. I have plans for both contingencies. Either there will be a closure or I will build something that will allow me to have a little suspense and a line for the next season.”
As for the cultivation of Gray franchise with another spinoff, Vernoff said the challenges of producing the series during the pandemic have paralyzed those conversations. “It has been so complicated and difficult to get back into production during the pandemic,” she said. “We are looking forward. I don’t really have the creative space to imagine what might happen next year; I’m trying to make it through this season. Once I know if this is the last season or not, I can start trying to imagine other things. same time for the end of the series and the end of the season – if not the end of the series – is like breaking two shows. That’s what I have bandwidth for. What, Station 19 and Rebel. That’s enough.”