Just like the rest of the world, the doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital are not immune from the coronavirus.
“Grey’s Anatomy’s” executive producer, Krista Vernoff, revealed the medical drama will include a COVID-19 plotline when it returns for season 17.
“We’re going to address this pandemic for sure,” she announced during the “Quaranstreaming: Comfort TV That Keeps Us Going” panel. “There’s no way to be a long-running medical show and not do the medical story of our lifetimes.”
The 48-year-old producer went on to explain that real-life doctors and nurses have been talking with the show’s writers throughout the pandemic.
“Every year, we have doctors come and tell us their stories, and usually they’re telling their funniest or craziest stories. This year, it has felt more like therapy,” she said. “The doctors come in and we’re the first people they’re talking to about these types of experiences they’re having. They are literally shaking and trying not to cry, they’re pale, and they’re talking about it as war — a war that they were not trained for.”
Adding, “That’s been one of our big conversations about Owen [Hunt], is that he’s actually trained for this in a way that most of the other doctors aren’t,” she teases of the storyline.”
The hit ABC show’s executive producer also noted that while it’s been “really painful” to hear such tragic stories surrounding the global coronavirus crisis, they need to be shared.
“I feel like our show has an opportunity and a responsibility to tell some of those stories,” she shared. “Our conversations have been constantly about how do we keep alive humor and romance while we tell these really painful stories.”
Production on the upcoming season of “Grey’s Anatomy” remains postponed due to the pandemic. Season 16 was cut short by four episodes due to coronavirus but Krista said that the writers are working hard to come up with storylines.
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