ABC and Entertainment Weekly have released the first full-length trailer for Grey’s Anatomy Season 23, which premieres Thursday, October 15, with next-day streaming on Hulu. The new season, Meg Marinis’ fourth as showrunner, arrives with major cast shakeups and a fresh batch of storylines at Grey Sloan Memorial.
New to the cast this season is James Wolk, known for Mad Men and Watchmen, who plays Dr. Seth Norton, described as a handsome, arrogant surgeon-turned-businessman who owns Olympic Regent Health, a luxury care medical center. Norton’s arrival ties directly into one of the season’s biggest new storylines: a controversial new “VIP floor” at Grey Sloan, which Catherine Fox, played by Debbie Allen, introduces by throwing her arms out and declaring “Welcome to paradise!” Norton recruits Meredith Grey for her expertise on the new wing. Additional new cast members Sarah Levy, Trevor Tordjman, and Martin Martinez also join the season, with Levy’s character described by Marinis as “instrumental in Ben’s plastics fellowship.”
The trailer leans heavily into the show’s trademark romantic entanglements. The love triangle between Amelia Shepherd, Toni Wright, and Cass Beckman takes center stage after Amelia’s season 22 hookup with Cass in Toni’s own living room, with Amelia later admitting, “Sleeping with Cass was a huge mistake.” Winston Ndugu is also caught in a compromising situation with Jules Millin, prompting Ben Warren to warn him to “come clean and get ahead of it” after catching the two sneaking out of an on-call room together. On a heavier note, Atticus Lincoln’s reliance on the opioid painkiller Tramadol, following a shoulder injury sustained in the Season 22 finale’s bridge collapse, becomes a storyline this season, with his wife Jo growing suspicious after discovering a pill bottle he claimed to have thrown away.
The season’s premiere episode, titled “Collide,” finds a collision at Sea-Tac sending a surge of critically injured patients to Grey Sloan just as the new VIP floor debuts, forcing the staff to navigate chaos and difficult choices simultaneously. The returning cast includes Chandra Wilson as Miranda Bailey, James Pickens Jr. as Richard Webber, Caterina Scorsone as Amelia Shepherd, Camilla Luddington as Jo Wilson, Jason George as Ben Warren, Chris Carmack as Atticus “Link” Lincoln, Anthony Hill as Winston Ndugu, Alexis Floyd as Simone Griffith, Harry Shum Jr. as Benson “Blue” Kwan, Adelaide Kane as Jules Millin, Niko Terho as Lucas Adams, and Trevor Jackson as Wes Bryant, alongside Sophia Bush as Cass Beckman and Jen Landon as Toni Wright in recurring roles. Scorsone, who joined the series in Season 7, recently praised creator Shonda Rhimes’ original structure for the show as “bulletproof,” saying the foundation Rhimes built in the pilot still holds up and gave future showrunners and writers room to build on it.
Ellen Pompeo continues in a recurring capacity as Meredith Grey, a role she’s held since Season 19, and remains featured prominently in the season’s marketing, returning “just in time for the chaos.” Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver also exit as series regulars this season, with their characters, Owen Hunt and Teddy Altman, having decided to leave for Paris at the end of Season 22. Scott Speedman’s status as Nick Marsh remains uncertain due to scheduling with another project.
With a new luxury wing, a new doctor stirring tension, and several relationships already unraveling before the premiere even airs, Season 23 looks to keep Grey Sloan’s chaos running at full speed heading into its next chapter.