The American hospital drama Grey’s Anatomy has decided to seek inspiration from the current coronavirus crisis at hand, for its next storyline.
The 17th season of the medical drama will showcase the pandemic and the inside stories of the frontline health officials battling the infectious disease that has thrown the world into disarray.
Comfort TV That Keeps Us Going panel: "We’re going to address this pandemic for sure. There’s no way to be a long-running medical show and not do the medical story of our lifetimes.”
Vernoff added that each year, the writers meet with real-life doctors to share their stories and while they get an abundance of amusing anecdotes every time, this year the stories were filled with heartache, pain and harrowing experiences, akin to that of fighting a war.
"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."
Speaking about the character of Owen Hunt who is a veteran, Vernoff added: "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.”
She added that the show felt the “responsibility” of narrating the painful stories to the world.
“Our conversations have been constantly about how do we keep alive humor and romance while we tell these really painful stories,” she added.
