Note: This story contains spoilers from “Grey’s Anatomy” Season 20, Episode 9.
“Grey’s Anatomy” fans should prepare for a “whirlwind” Season 20 finale next week, according to star Niko Terho.
The actor behind intern Lucas Adams said that the ABC medical drama has been gearing up to address many questions, as the consequences of the interns’ botched surgery on Sam Sutton in last year’s finale — along with Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Amelia’s (Caterina Scorsone) secret Alzheimer’s trial — will lead to twists and more questions ahead of the show’s summer hiatus.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get your fill of stressed out for the summer,” Terho told TheWrap.
Thursday’s episode, titled “I Carry Your Heart,” set the stage for plenty of drama on multiple fronts. For Lucas, Teddy (Kim Raver) and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) revealed that the board’s long-gestating recommendation in the aftermath of Sam’s case was to suggest Lucas redo his intern year — pending a final decision from Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen).
With a potential setback in his career on the horizon, Lucas also found a new opportunity thanks to returning doctor Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary). After scrubbing in on a surgery with her and Winston (Anthony Hill), Maggie offered him a new job as a specialized cardiothoracic resident at her hospital in Chicago — a position that would have him move away from his aunt Amelia, and potentially away from neuro, his family’s specialty of choice.
“He’s being presented with something that he never saw coming, and anybody would be happy about having. But he has also built up a sense of family at Grey Sloan, and his actual family is there and it has always been a dream for him to work at that hospital, so a lot of things are going through his mind,” Terho said. “He has to just figure out what he’s feeling and listen to his gut, which he’s been working on doing this whole season.”
As he ponders potentially leaving the hospital, Terho said the Shepherd family legacy, along with Lucas’ recent bonding with Amelia, might make it hard for him to let go of his life in Seattle.
“But on the negative side, being at Grey Sloan comes with a lot of pressure. You have to live up to the family name, be as good if not better than the Shepherds before you. So it may be beneficial for him to let go and just be his own person at a different hospital,” he added. “That is weighing on him heavily and is a big driving force for his decisions moving forward.”
While Lucas’ future at Grey Sloan remains in question, the show is set to say goodbye to series regulars Jake Borelli, who plays Levi Schmitt, and Midori Francis, who plays Lucas’ fellow intern Mika Yasuda — as reports surfaced of budget cuts leading to cast changes on the show (ABC declined to comment). Terho said he’s enjoyed working with his castmates the past two seasons, but has not been made aware of the circumstances behind the shakeups to come.
Lucas’ future aside, the finale should also be a big one for Meredith, as Episode 9 saw her deciding whether to publish the findings of her rogue Alzheimer’s study before Catherine can shut it down for good. The episode saw as Catherine finally learned that Teddy had been secretly funding Meredith and Amelia’s project with the hospital’s discretionary fund. Though she understood why Teddy supported her fellow doctors, the insubordination did not go unpunished as Catherine fired Teddy as chief of surgery at the end of the episode.
The “Grey’s Anatomy” Season 20 finale airs Thursday, May 30, on ABC. Past episodes are available to stream on Hulu and Netflix.
