Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 22 First Look: Who Survived the Shocking Season 21 Finale?

As Grey’s Anatomy prepares for Season 22, viewers have no idea which one of their favorite characters will survive the explosion that rocked Grey Sloan. As a matter of fact, not even the writers knew who would make it out alive. “I knew what I thought initially, but I wanted to wait until my writers were back, so that people could also fight and argue with me. And so some things changed, some didn’t. But I want to give everyone a chance to fight for what happens to specific characters,” showrunner Meg Marinis said in a recent interview while previewing the upcoming season. The explosion occurred in the middle of the day, with everyone preoccupied with one thing or another. Many characters were caught up in the middle of it? The question now becomes: who survives?

New images from the season premiere hint at a casualty, and it’s someone who has their whole life ahead of them after recently getting married and expecting twins. Link (Chris Camarck) is nowhere to be seen in these images, hinting at a possible death. And this being Grey’s Anatomy, anyone can die. “We clearly saw Link in immediate danger. We’ll just have to see whether Link makes it through this explosion…” Marinis teased. In fact, one of the images that shows Winston (Anthony Hill) holding back Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) hints that something bad might have happened to Link, who shares a child with Amelia.

Meredith Will Be a Part of Grey’s Anatomy Season 23

Even as new people come and leave the hospital, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) remains a huge part of the show, and not just because she narrates it. The character drops by occasionally, and in Season 22, Marinis promised that viewers would see her in several episodes. “We always communicate with Ellen and her team and work around her schedule, but she feels the show is very important to her. I just emailed with her this morning, and we’ll see her on set the end of this week. We’re just excited to have her back,” the showrunner said. As for Meredith’s place in the show, Marinis said:

“I think the way that we did it in this season finale is a great way to do it. It allows us to see the character in Seattle just as much as we see her in Boston, and we’ll be able to see her maybe interact with our residents a little bit more, which is fun because Meredith is such an amazing teacher — and this kind of rebellious surgeon that I think we’ve all come to love. Obviously she’s going to be Meredith and we will probably see some rule breaking at one point. I’m just lucky to have Ellen still as involved with the show as she is.”

Tune in to ABC on Thursday, October 9, to catch the season premiere and learn what happens to Link. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.