SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details from episode 2202, “We Built This City,” of the ABC series. Grey’s Anatomy.
EXCLUSIVE: The deadly explosion of the finale of season 21 of Grey’s Anatomy left all the doctors at Gray Sloan in shock. No one felt the impact more than Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone), whose patient Dylan’s mother was responsible for the explosion. Unable to cope despite intervention from Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Maggie (Kelly McCreary), Amelia announced at the end of tonight’s episode that she was taking a sabbatical. (You can read Deadline’s recap here.)
This creates a long pause for a long time Grey’s Anatomy Scorsone, regular cast member. According to sources, the series will run for the next eight episodes, with the actress returning in 2026.
As Deadline reported, starting in 2024-2025, Grey’s Anatomy has reduced minimum guarantees for its veteran cast members to 14 of the show’s 18 episodes per season, a cost-saving measure used by a number of long-running series, including Dick Wolf dramas. This resulted in Grey’s long-time cast members do not appear in four episodes each, usually spread out throughout the season.
That’s still the case for 2025-26, I’ve heard, with the veterans doing 14 episodes out of 18, except for Scorsone who will be doing 10 out of 18. The cutback was worked into Amelia’s storyline as she goes on sabbatical, with the off episodes considered consecutive.
This decision would be specific to this season. Scorsone remains a series regular, and Amelia, first introduced in season 7 of Grey’s after debuting in a spin-off Private practice, remains a fan-favorite character deeply rooted in the show’s mythology as the sister of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) and sister-in-law of Meredith.
ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” stars Caterina Scorsone as Amelia Shepherd.
Disney/Nino Munoz
In an interview after the season 21 finale, Deadline asked Grey’s Anatomy Executive producer/showrunner Meg Marinis on Season 22 plans for Amelia who is overdue for a strong arc after not being given much to do last season.
“She was very medical this season,” Marinis said at the time. “We’ll see if she strives and wants to continue taking on medical cases, we’ll see if that continues after what happens to Dylan. I think it’s a proud moment for her. She agreed to something and it’s possible she shouldn’t have operated on this girl in the first place.”
The last sentence cut to the heart of Amelia’s emotional struggles as she blames her decision to take on Dylan’s case for everything that happened, including the death of her friend, Dr. Monica Beltran. Adding to her heartbreak is the fact that, as Amelia revealed in tonight’s episode, after two surgeries, Dylan remains locked awake in her body, can’t blink and plans to spend her life in a long-term care facility.
I hope she improves later this season, before or after Amelia returns.
