'Grey's Anatomy' Boss Breaks Down the Season 20 Premiere

Chandra Wilson stars as Miranda Bailey in Season 20 of 'Grey's Anatomy.'

Grey's Anatomy is back and it feels like coming home after a long time away. Season 20 kicked off almost immediately after where Season 19 left off with the attendings returning from the Catherine Fox Awards—Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Catherine (Debbie Allen) in tow—to find Teddy (Kim Raver) in urgent need of heart surgery.

Winston (Anthony Hill) jumped into gear and took over Teddy's care while Nick (Scott Speedman) tended to the errant interns. He tried to keep them contained in the skills lab so they would stay out of trouble while he figured out the right path forward following Sam Sutton's (Sam Paige) death, but of course, they didn't listen. Lucas (Niko Terho) and Simone (Alexis Floyd) wandered off and wound up trapped in an ambulance with a patient bleeding internally as a driverless car continually rammed into the back door.

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Meanwhile, Jules (Adelaide Kane) and Blue (Harry Shum Jr.) battled over who was most inappropriate in their care of Maxine (Juliet Mills). Miko (Midori Francis) was picked to be on Winston's service but was still so distracted by watching Teddy collapse the night before she couldn't go through with the surgery. She took her frustrations out on Jo (Camilla Luddington) and questioned why no attendings other than Teddy answered the interns' frantic pages. That did a lot to compound Jo's guilt about not being there when Sam died.

Richard (James Pickens Jr.) was also dealing with guilt over how close he came to taking a drink at the Catherine Fox Awards and decided to take some time off to refocus on his sobriety. Meredith realized after a terrifying chat with Catherine that she needed to publicly back off her approach to Alzheimer's research, but enlisted Amelia's (Caterina Scorsone) help to continue the work in private. Nick decided to follow his heart to Boston, which put Bailey (Chandra Wilson) in charge of the reckless interns.

Below, Parade talked to new Grey's Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis about what it means to have Bailey back in charge of the interns, what's next for Teddy and what fans can expect from the landmark Season 20.

What inspired putting Bailey back in charge of the interns? 

We talked about where does Bailey go from [winning a Catherine Fox Award] in her career. It’s the highest award of awards in our world. What a lot of people don’t realize is that she won that award for her teaching reproductive care. She’s the teacher of all teachers. Based on where we left our interns at the end of last season, they have to come back from this. It made sense when we looked at the stories that there was only one person who could bring them back. She helped raise Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Isabel Stephens, Alex Karen and George O’Malley. She was responsible for turning out these great surgeons. She’s the only one who can help the interns come back from this low they’ve had.

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I did love that she called Meredith out for her cutting LVAD wires and ruining medical trials.

It’s a celebration of the 20th season. We’re kind of nodding to the foundations that Shonda [Rhimes] built. It’s nostalgic. It’s going to be a nostalgic Bailey, but she’s evolved. She’s taking on this job and this role that she had the very beginning of the series, but with 20 years of experience.

It is obvious in this episode that the interns do not have each other’s backs. They are willing to throw each other under the bus at any moment. What sort of journey are they on this season and how do you get them on the same page?

I’d like to remind people that for these particular five interns, this was the only program that would take them. They didn’t have any other options. They are so intent on their goal of getting through surgical residency that once any of their peers do something to jeopardize that, they are going to fight to hold on to their spot in the program. They don’t have anywhere else to go. If they want to be surgeons, they have to make it here. That’s how we met them. This is already their second chance. They’re fractured right now because there’s a lot of blame that’s getting tossed around for what happened and lot of blame for who is going to be responsible for their career potentially ending. We do have a long road for them to come back from.

Simone and Lucas had the biggest fracture after what happened with Sam Sutton. What is their journey like this season after they went through so much to get together in the finale?

We wanted to play the reality of what this would look like. Yes, it took them a long time to get together, and I think they were so happy in that moment in the finale. But this is a huge thing that he did. All she can see right now is Sam on the table. It’s going to take a minute for her to process that. It’s part of the story. Can they come back from something like this?

Lucas proved again that he’s still very impulsive in the premiere. How is that different from when Ben went rogue a few seasons ago and everyone accused him of being an adrenaline junkie?

There are some similarities between the characters. It’s really interesting that you pointed that out, but I think one of the major differences is that when Ben made those choices he was a lot further along in his residency than Lucas. It’s weird to realize, but they are still only a few months into their internship. Time is pretty compressed at this point. It feels like it’s been forever because we’ve been off the air, but Lucas is still a new doctor. He has to learn that impulsivity, while sometimes good...he needs the skills before he can be impulsive.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Amelia has now been tasked with carrying on Meredith’s research. How is she going to tackle that, knowing that it’ll be undoing Derek’s legacy in some way?

It’s going to be an emotional journey for Amelia. Our show has a longstanding relationship with Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s how we introduced Meredith’s mother. We love that the two of them [Meredith and Amelia] are working together. It keeps that sister relationship alive even though we don’t have all the sisters on the show anymore. We can still check on them, though. It makes it so much more organic that Meredith and Amelia will be working together and it’s really groundbreaking research, but Amelia is going to have to wrestle with what’s more important to her: the research or her relationship to her brother’s work. It’s going to be a challenge.

What does it mean for Richard that he is essentially starting over in his sobriety?

We are honoring the reality of what people go through when they struggle with sobriety. Richard doesn’t talk about it every day, but Richard thinks about it every day. He has been around long enough to know that any distraction in the OR can be detrimental to the patient. That shows a lot of growth for him. Even though he didn’t take the drink, his mind feels like he did and so he’s going to stop and pause for a second. He makes sure that he is taking care of himself and that he’s being a responsible surgeon.

How does this cardiac event affect Teddy? Did almost losing her help mend her and Owen’s relationship?

I think anytime a partner sees their partner go through a life-threatening situation, it puts things in perspective. She has a road ahead of her. She’s got this surgery and everything does not go back to normal. She has a recovery to go through and that recovery is hard. That will affect how she doctors and how she interacts in her relationships.

Does this experience affect her desire to be Chief?

It affects how she chiefs, if that makes sense.

What are you most excited for fans to see in Season 20?

I’m so excited for us to be on the air again. It’s a season that feels very Grey’s. It’s honoring what fans love about the show and there’s going to be a lot of Easter egg moments that fans who have been with us for the long run are going to pick up on, and it’s going to be so fun.

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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