Grey's Anatomy Season 20 Delayed Indefinitely Amid WGA & SGA Strikes
Another major project on TV has been affected by the strike.
Summer 2023 is coming to an end, but the WGA-SAG-AFTRA strike is still ongoing as the writers and actors still haven't resolved their dispute with studios and streaming services, and that means major projects across the industry are still being affected.
It has been nearly four months since the WGA went on strike on 2 May. In a bid to secure fairer pay from streaming services and restrict the use of AI in the industry, TV writers have been joining picket lines in the streets of many US cities. In mid-July, the actors' union joined the strike. Now, as the fall season of 2023 is upon us, many popular projects have been put on hold indefinitely. ABC's cult medical drama, Grey's Anatomy, has joined the long list of affected shows.
Shonda Rhimes's flagship production, Grey's Anatomy, debuted in 2005 and has left an indelible mark on TV history. While it may not be ABC's longest-running show (the network has produced many famous soap operas, including another medical drama, General Hospital, which has been on the air since 1963), Grey's Anatomy has been a huge presence in modern TV history. It has spanned an impressive nineteen seasons, with season 20 approved for the fall of 2023. However, with the strike still in full swing, nobody knows when we might see the new season.
ABC's official programming schedule for the upcoming fall season notably omits any mention of the twentieth season of Grey's Anatomy. Instead, the network will be broadcasting new episodes of its leading game and reality shows, such as Shark Tank and The Golden Bachelor.
Meanwhile, Grey's Anatomy's twentieth season was supposed to bring back many beloved characters, including Chandra Wilson's Miranda Bailey and James Pickens Jr's Richard Webber.
Even more significantly, several months after Grey's Anatomy's renewal for a twentieth season in February, Shonda Rhimes, who serves as an executive producer on the show, stated that her studio had no plans to end it as long as there was demand from the audience.
'It's such an amazing show and it's doing so well as it's moving forward. I'm going to leave it alone and see where it goes, and we're going to stay a show as long as everybody wants to be there and as long as the fans want to be there,' she told E! News.
Unfortunately, her determination isn't enough to bring Grey's Anatomy back this fall.
Source: E! News.