Who survived the Grey’s Anatomy explosion? An exclusive look at the season 22 premiere reveals clues

Grey’s Anatomy finales are always explosive — but not usually in a literal sense.

In May, the ABC drama concluded with a hostage situation resolved peacefully, only to be followed up with the last-minute surprise that an explosive gas had been released into one of the operating rooms. Just before the credits rolled, a ball of fire burst from Grey Sloan Memorial, leaving fans to wonder who is in danger.

Now, Entertainment Weekly has exclusive photos from the season 22 premiere that provide a few answers. But just a few weeks ago, not even the writers knew who would survive.

“I knew what I thought initially,” showrunner Meg Marinis tells EW, “but I wanted to wait until my writers were back, so that people could also fight and argue with me. And so some things changed, some didn’t. But I want to give everyone a chance to fight for what happens to specific characters.”

So who should we be worried about? Monica Beltran (Natalie Morales) and Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane) were on the floor preparing for surgery. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) was at the scheduling board, so also at risk. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) and Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) were both separately on their way to find Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), so any of those three might have been nearby. Then there’s Ben Warren (Jason George), who ran into the hospital the moment he saw the explosion.

The one person we know was in one of the operating rooms is Link (Chris Carmack), who in the finale got married to Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) and found out the twins they’re expecting are girls…so there are plenty of reasons the emotional stakes would be high if he’s put in peril.

“We clearly saw Link in immediate danger,” Marinis confirms. “We’ll just have to see whether Link makes it through this explosion…”

The exclusive season 22 premiere photo above doesn’t help matters, with Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) holding back a clearly emotional Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone), who was once married to and co-parents a son with Link.

Marinis confirms the premiere will pick up right where the season 21 finale left of. (“I wanted to return right to the chaos,” she says.) But there of course will be drama beyond the explosion — especially following the revelation that one of the new interns (played by Trevor Jackson) was the guy Simone Griffiths (Alexis Floyd) hooked up with the night before.

“We will be seeing Trevor Jackson more, and he is an amazing person,” says Marinis. “He’s so talented. It’s been so fun with him on set already, and he is definitely mixing up the dynamics between our resident cast members, specifically Simone and Lucas,” she adds, referencing Adams and Griffith’s currently complicated relationship. “There’s definitely going to be ramifications of what happened at the end of last season.”

And while Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) will continue to live in Boston, “she’ll come back for some episodes,” Marinis confirms (as does the photo below).

“We always communicate with Ellen and her team and work around her schedule, but she feels the show is very important to her,” Marinis continues. “I just emailed with her this morning, and we’ll see her on set the end of this week. We’re just excited to have her back.”

Meredith started the season 21 finale planning to sell her shares of the hospital to fund her Alzheimer’s research. But after inserting herself into the hostage situation — and a little guilt tripping from Webber — she ends the episode informing Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) that she plans on spending her summers in Seattle and getting more time in OR2, which feels like home to her.

“I think the way that we did it in this season finale is a great way to do it,” Marinis says of finding an organic way to allow Meredith to pop in and out of Grey Sloan. “It allows us to see the character in Seattle just as much as we see her in Boston, and we’ll be able to see her maybe interact with our residents a little bit more, which is fun because Meredith is such an amazing teacher — and this kind of rebellious surgeon that I think we’ve all come to love.

“Obviously she’s going to be Meredith and we will probably see some rule breaking at one point,” Marinis adds, “I’m just lucky to have Ellen still as involved with the show as she is.”

Yes, but let’s get back to the explosion!

Marinis says everyone’s fate will be revealed in the premiere episode, but “there’s obviously going to be some hospital rebuilding that needs to happen. And so we’re going to play the aftermath for more than just the first episode, absolutely — the emotional trauma as well as the hospital needing to be put back together.”

If Link dies, there will some fans that have to be put back together as well.