Grey’s Anatomy Season 9 Spoiler Roundup: A Time Jump, Character Changes & More Death?

The Grey’s Anatomy Season 9 spoiler floodgates are open! In the wake of the big Grey’s news, showrunner Shonda Rhimes went on an interview spree late last week. She said a lot about Season 9 to a number of different outlets. To make your life easier, we’ve rounded up the juiciest details right here.


Will there be a time jump? Shonda tells The Hollywood Reporter that the premiere will take place “two to three months after we left the finale,” but the second episode of the season will take us back to where we left off with the Season 8 finale to fill us in on what happened.


More deaths and departures? In her interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Shonda continues to hint that even more docs could die or leave the show — though Meredith(Ellen Pompeo), Derek (Patrick Dempsey), and Cristina (Sandra Oh) will survive the crash, so that’s good. Shonda also suggests that some of the docs who were planning to leave Seattle Grace-Mercy West actually will do so, but the cameras may follow them to their new locations.


Arizona and Callie. Shonda remains cagey about Arizona’s (Jessica Capshaw) fate, but she does note to The Hollywood Reporter that whatever that fate is, it will have a big impact on Callie (Sara Ramirez), and we can expect to “spend a lot of time with Callie this season.”


The emotional aftermath of the crash. It sounds like the crash will have interesting implications for many of our favorite characters. Shonda tells TV Guide that there will be “real physical after-effects for all of our people that they’re dealing with.” Shonda tells The Hollywood Reporter that Derek, with his injured hand, has to learn “who are you if you’re not the guy who operates.” Meanwhile, they going to “really follow” the PTSD implications of the crash for Cristina, and we’ll see a lot of “growth” for Mer.


Shonda also tells The Hollywood Reporter that Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) won’t feel guilty about not taking his calls earlier on the day of the crash, but she hints to TV Guide that Alex (Justin Chambers) will struggle with guilt over the fact that Arizona took his place on that plane.


When does April come back? Shonda tells TV Guide that while April (Sarah Drew) starts the season back at home, we’ll learn how she comes back in the premiere, which airs on September 27.