Grey's EP Teases 'Mermac' Coupling in Season 18: 'Meredith Is Open But Not Looking' for Another Great Love

Grey’s Anatomy fans champing at the bit for Season 18 to allow Meredith and Cormac to have a drink — a real drink, not a swig from a half-empty bottle of whiskey — might want to cool their jets, at least a bit. Though we as viewers may have all processed the passing of her last love, DeLuca, she may not have.

“I think [Meredith, played by Ellen Pompeo] went through the wringer last season,” executive producer Meg Marinis tells TVLine. “Even though she was in a bed [for much of Season 17 as she battled COVID], she did just lose DeLuca.”

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In other words, pretty much the last thing on Grey’s mind as we return to Grey Sloan is a romance to rival what she had with late husband Derek. Yeah, “I don’t think she’s actively looking for it,” Marinis says. “Now, does that mean it won’t possibly find her?”

No. Heck, no. It just means that it will have to catch her — if not the audience — by surprise. “I wouldn’t say she’s actively looking for it,” Marinis reaffirms, “because she just got out of the COVID crisis, and her career and her family have always come first.”

But availing oneself to a possibility is a very different thing from seeking out an opportunity. “Correct,” says Marinis. “I think Meredith is open but definitely not looking.”

And when it comes to Cormac, Marinis noted in our Inside Line column, “we saw Hayes being more drawn to [Meredith] even as she was in a hospital bed all season.” And even though, in Season 17’s finale, they swigged from a half-empty bottle of whiskey in the doctors lounge, they need to have “an official drink, if you will,” the EP affirmed.

Season 18 of Grey’s Anatomy premieres on ABC on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 9/8c. Before it does, hit the comments with your thoughts. Does “Mermac” have what it takes to make you swoon?

Launch Gallery: <i>Grey's Anatomy</i>'s 25 Greatest Couples Ever

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