When ABC's Grey's Anatomy returns for its 10th season, the action picks up immediately as the staff at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital finds themselves in the thick of the super storm that promises to be deadly.
After Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) gave birth to baby boy, Bailey, she's being kept in the dark about what's going on with her husband, Derek (Patrick Dempsey); Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Cristina (the departing Sandra Oh) navigating life after divorce; and Callie (Sara Ramirez), who is dealing with the fallout of Arizona's (Jessica Capshaw) infidelity.
The Hollywood Reporter hit the Hollywood set of Grey's Anatomy and polled the cast about the biggest challenges their onscreen counterparts would face in season 10.
Ellen Pompeo (Meredith)
"Meredith is really being challenged by people's ability to believe that she can do both -- be a mother to two young children and a surgeon."
Patrick Dempsey (Derek)
"I think balancing work and home life. I don't know where [showrunner and mother of two] Shonda Rhimes gets all this stuff. Be careful what you tell her because it suddenly starts creeping in!"
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Kevin McKidd (Owen)
"Cristina is going to have to be careful what she wishes for because if you keep pushing someone away, then eventually they're going to go away. I can't picture Owen with another partner, but we say that in life all the time about people -- 'Oh, they were the happiest couple; I couldn't picture them apart.' I don't know if he will rush into some knee-jerk rebound sort of thing or take his time and lick his wounds. I think he will go into his man cave for a little while and sort of go into the woods."
Sara Ramirez (Callie)
"Callie is livid and raged and so hurt; what's underneath everything is the pain and the sadness of that kind of heartbreak. When somebody breaks the trust that way it's like making a unilateral decision for the couple anyway."
Jessica Capshaw (Arizona)
"Understanding herself. When that kind of betrayal happens, the immediate reaction is shame and guilt -- because how could you make your person feel so horrible? The next layer is then figuring out why it happened and the why is going to be very illuminating for Arizona."
Chandra Wilson (Bailey)
"Bailey always likes to have a pet project. Something she's always growing or working on, and I have a feeling they're going to continue with that but they just haven't told me what it is yet. She doesn't go too long without a pet project."
Justin Chambers (Alex)
"Dealing with this new relationship with Jo. He's found someone who is his match and he's challenged by that. Before, it was always about, 'Well this is what I went through and you don't know what it's like.' Now someone does know what it's like, so that should be a good challenge."
Camilla Luddington (Jo)
"Navigating a new relationship and trying to make it a healthy, happy one. I'm not sure Jo has ever experienced that before; it's brand new territory for her. She and Alex are both really tortured people, so together they have to figure out how to be together and make it work. For them in particular, it's difficult."
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Sarah Drew (April)
"Figuring out her heart. Matthew (Justin Bruening) is a great guy. He has already shown that he is romantic. He has shown he is a man of integrity. He has come and apologized to her for jumping to conclusions. He's forgiven her when she's waffled, so he seems like the greatest guy -- on paper. But April still has this connection to Jackson (Jesse Williams). We'll see in the second episode of this season that April makes a choice. Jackson is someone who really challenges April; they fight and make up and will always be good friends. Matthew might not challenge April as much as Jackson does, but he has proven to love her unconditionally. It's hard it's like two really great guys, so she just has to figure out what she wants."
Gaius Charles (Shane)
"Dealing with a lot of the fallout and the traumatic events of the first two episodes because Shane has a key role in a particular event. We'll see how Shane deals with that and how he struggles with the personal consequences."
Jerrika Hinton (Stephanie)
"Most likely it's going to be Jackson. Even though their relationship is warming up and in a wonderful, lovely place, nothing stays that way. Considering their history with the Jackson and April thing and how little Stephanie knows of that, I'm certain that's going to explode."
Grey's returns on Sept. 26 with a two-hour premiere, which starts at 9 p.m. on ABC. Stay tuned to THR's The Live Feed for more Grey's coverage.
E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
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