The long-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy will feature the coronavirus pandemic in season 17 and is using real doctors to ensure the scripts are accurate.
The show’s executive producer Krista Vernoff revealed the virus would be arriving at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in the upcoming season, explaining: “There’s no way to be a long-running medical show and not do the medical story of our lifetimes.”
Vernoff made the comments during Quaranstreaming: Comfort TV That Keeps Us Going panel, hosted by the Television Academy – she was joined by stars Chandra Wilson (who plays Dr. Miranda Bailey) and Kevin McKidd (who fans will know as Dr Owen Hunt).
During the panel, the executive producer revealed the writers were meeting with real-life doctors who were willing to share their experiences of the outbreak to help create the scripts, Entertainment Weekly reports.
Vernoff added: “Every year, we have doctors come and tell us their stories, and usually they’re telling their funniest or craziest stories. This year, it has felt more like therapy.
“The doctors come in and we’re the first people they’re talking to about these types of experiences they’re having. They are literally shaking and trying not to cry, they’re pale, and they’re talking about it as war – a war that they were not trained for.
“And that’s been one of our big conversations about Owen, is that he’s actually trained for this in a way that most of the other doctors aren’t.”
Shooting is set to begin on the new season because of the pandemic, but Vernoff confirmed that the writers are already busy working on the scripts, promising that they were working hard on how to ‘keep alive humor and romance while we tell these really painful stories’.
In a statement, she said: “At Station 19 [a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff], we were lucky enough to have about 300 of the coveted N95 masks which we donated to our local fire station.
“At Grey’s Anatomy, we have a backstock of gowns and gloves which we are donating as well.
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