‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Cut Meredith’s Season 14 Love Interest After a Leak

RACHEL TICOTIN
ABC/Byron Cohen

Grey’s Anatomy could have had back-to-back-to-back seasons with (potential) romances for Meredith (Ellen Pompeo).

And one of those might have been “a European scientist” in Season 14, if plans to cast a “potential love interest” for the lead character hadn’t leaked.

“When that got leaked, I went into the writers’ room and said, ‘That’s not interesting to me anymore,'” executive producer Krista Vernoff tells Entertainment Weekly. “‘What else could this character be?'”

That was how the character of Marie Cerone (Rachel Ticotin) came to be. Marie was Ellis’ (Kate Burton) old friend whose permission Meredith needed to use a polymer for her research. Meredith then learned that her mother took credit for work the two women had done together, and Marie planned to develop mini-livers before Meredith could. In the end, Meredith renamed the Grey Method and made sure Marie got the credit she deserved for the Grey-Cerone method.

“It was a much more interesting story than some temporary love interest,” the EP said. “We changed it because we wanted to thwart expectations.”

(ABC/Byron Cohen)

So, rather than have Meredith, who lost Derek (Patrick Dempsey) in Season 11, have relationships with Nathan (Martin Henderson) in Season 13, this new character in Season 14, and now Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti), fans (and Meredith) got a bit of a reprieve in the love department.

In Season 15, she and Andrew not only became involved and fell in love, but he also took the fall for her when she committed insurance fraud so one of her young patients could have a necessary operation. As the season ended, Meredith, Alex (Justin Chambers), and Richard (James Pickens Jr.) were fired for the roles they played in the fraud and cover-up after they told Bailey (Chandra Wilson) the truth, and Andrew was facing jail time.

Meredith told Andrew that she’d take responsibility for what he did, but the finale ended before she confessed, so we’ll have to wait to see how that plays out.

Sound off in the comments below with your thoughts on Meredith’s love life.

Grey’s Anatomy, Season 16, Fall 2019, ABC