Fifteen days ago, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy became one of the first series to suspend production as the U.S. and Hollywood were just starting to grasp the scope of the coronavirus health crisis. The decision was made after the medical drama had wrapped production on Episode 21 of its 25-episode 16th season.
At the time, the hiatus was going to be for at least two weeks. Now it has been made permanent for Season 16, which will not resume production to complete filming on additional episodes amid an escalating COVID-19 outbreak in the country that has claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people.
The last produced episode, #1621, aptly titled “Put on a Happy Face,” will April 9. It will serve as the Grey’s Anatomy Season 16 finale.
Grey’s Anatomy, the longest-running medical drama on television, already has been renewed for Season 17. It has not been decided yet whether the four unproduced episodes from Season 16 will be tacked onto the show’s order for next season or if they will open Season 17 next fall.
The other two Shondaland series, Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Station 19 and How to Get Away with Murder, had completed their shorter orders before the mass production shutdowns. Their finales, including HTGAWM’s series finale, will air on May 14 as previously scheduled.
It is unclear whether there was a Grey’s-Station 19 crossover planned for the last four weeks of the season that would now be one-sided but that is a real possibility given the close integration between the two series.