The trailer for Grey’s Anatomy season 22 raises the stakes following Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s cliffhanger ending, but that can suggest that ABC set the medical drama up to fail if it follows a detrimental four-year trend. The hostage situation of season 21’s finale being resolved only for the explosion to go off meant the crisis is far from concluded.
Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Needs To Kill Someone Or Threats To Them Won’t Be Believed Again
Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s finale worked masterfully because of the general sense of worry that permeated its every moment, keeping audiences on their toes, only to be released with the explosion, which proved it right, as something horrible did happen. However, this leaves Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s premiere the tough job of showing what that catastrophe entails through its victims.
This is also highlighted in Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s teaser trailer. The scenes of chaos and the distraught faces of multiple Grey Sloan Memorial doctors all paint a grim picture of what to expect, and their being spaced out with words eventually forming the question, “Who will survive?” ups the ante in relation to the casualties for season 22’s premiere.
Grey’s Anatomy built its reputation by killing off main characters early on, and how heartbreaking and nerve-racking those episodes were built a lasting memory of how distressing the medical drama can be. The threat of another heart-wrenching death lurking in the shadows can be powerful enough to generate anticipation that one of those iconic Grey’s Anatomy moments could happen again.
Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s finale and season 22’s teaser trailer bank on that credibility to generate hype for the upcoming season, but if Grey’s Anatomy season 22 doesn’t kill off an important character, the medical drama’s threats won’t be believed again in the future. This is even more crucial since Grey’s Anatomy hasn’t killed a main character since season 17.
Grey’s Anatomy Hasn’t Killed Off A Major Character Since Andrew DeLuca’s Death In Season 17
Character deaths are common in Grey’s Anatomy due to its being set in a hospital, but those most consequential rightfully happened every few seasons. Those moments’ existence warrants a high degree of worry even during the more frequent times Grey’s Anatomy threatens a character’s life before saving them. However, it’s been four years since a key character was killed off.
Andrew DeLuca’s death in Grey’s Anatomy season 17 painfully developed in both the medical drama and Station 19, which maximized its shock value by showing how his coworkers at Grey Sloan Memorial and his sister Carina reacted to the tragedy. His final storyline let him go out as a hero, but no major character has been killed since DeLuca’s death.
Meredith came very close in Grey’s Anatomy season 17 with her COVID storyline, but she eventually pulled through. Grey’s Anatomy season 18 ended in a chaotic cliffhanger as well, with all the new interns risking their careers by operating on a patient unsupervised while also keeping Teddy Altman alive after she collapsed, hinting at her demise being a possible outcome.
Before its drama-filled finale, Grey’s Anatomy season 21 pulled the same trick of almost killing a central character only to let them recover with Mika and her sister’s car accident, delivering a dramatic storyline but also not committing to making it entirely tragic, as Mika’s exit in Grey’s Anatomy season 21 eventually entailed her leaving medicine without compromising her safety.
The circumstances of an explosion happening at Grey Sloan Memorial with all those main characters condensed in that small place nevertheless make it imperative that a key character is irreparably hurt after Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s ending. Indeed, enough time has passed since the last Grey’s Anatomy tragedy, making season 22’s beginning the perfect moment to deliver a new one.
Which Grey’s Anatomy Characters Are The Most Likely To Die From Season 21’s Explosion
Several characters are unaccounted for or seen close to the OR floor in Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s ending before the blast. Jenna opening the acetylene tank while overseeing Amelia perform a surgery on her daughter in OR 2 makes Link the character more evidently at risk of perishing as a consequence of the explosion, being his surgery in OR 2.
Jules and Monica Beltran discussing an upcoming surgery with Bailey on the OR floor just before the explosion put all three of them in serious danger, and their absence from Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s trailer seemingly confirms there is a good reason to fear for their fates. That is the case even if plenty happened in their season 21 storylines.
Grey’s Anatomy season 22 premieres on ABC at 10 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 9, 2025.
Other characters at great risk are Lucas and Richard, as Amelia could be seen instructing Lucas to run to Webber and tell him about the full acetylene tank before the explosion, placing them very close to where the chemical was released if they remained near where Richard managed the hostage situation. Richard’s loftier status nonetheless put him in bigger danger.
Among all these characters, Link’s would inevitably be the most heartbreaking death for his future and what that would mean to Jo, especially so soon after tying the knot. However, Richard’s death would without doubt be the most impactful, as it would deprive Grey’s Anatomy of one of its few original characters, making this crisis one to look for closely.
