Grey's Anatomy Season 12 Air Date, Spoilers, and Cast: Could This Be Ellen Pompeo’s Last Season?

May 23, 2015 03:29 AM EDT

Greys' Anatomy is a show that is still on after eleven years, which is a rare feat of any network show.  Most shows at this time have an audience who will tune in no matter what the show will do, and Grey's Anatomy has had a huge season with an earthquake and the death of Derek Shepherd.  What can possibly be next for Greys' Anatomy Season 12?  This is what we know about the Air Date, Spoilers, and Cast.

Grey's Anatomy ended Season 11 with a lot of interesting storylines that will need to continue in Season 12.  Many fans wanted to see what would happen to April and Jackson.  As April wanted to go back overseas, Jackson said it would end the relationship.  Entertainment Weekly has stated that the couple "haven't actually broken up" and "left on the precipice".  No doubt there will be more of this story in Season 12. 

Another plotline on the finale was Jo and Alex who finally said "I love you" to each other.  As Jo and Alex are ready to settle down, it seems like an engagement might occur by the end of Season 12, according to The Hollywood Reporter

The big question is will Season 12 be the last season, but this is apparently not the case as it was revealed that Season 12 is "absolutely not" the last season of Grey's, even though the star Patrick Dempsey has died in the context of the show.  Generally, a move like that tends to signal a near end to any television show.  Still, at 12 seasons, it is pretty difficult to keep an audience, as only a few shows have passed the 10th season mark. 

However, it is the end of Ellen Pompeo's contract.  Is Meredith exiting the show?  If so, then Zap2it predicts that this could be Meredith's "Alzheimer's season".  Her character has allowed herself to be test for the Alzheimer's gene in Season 9, and ended up getting positive results for multiple genetic markers of the disease.

With Pompeo gone, that will definitely be the end of an era for the show, and it is a risk as there might be people who will inevitably complain that the show won't be as good and some who might just stop watching.  Eventually, there will be a lot of new interns that will show up, and the show will go back to its roots of showing new doctors attempting to become a success once again. 

Right now, according to the Inquisitr, Shonda Rhimes and her staff of writers are currently working on a Season 12 story.  The writers work through the month of May before taking off in June, and then the cast returns to work on Season 12 in July.  So far, there isn't any word on the actual air date of episode 1 of the premiere of Grey's Anatomy Season 12, but it should get interesting when it finally arrives on ABC sometime in the Fall of 2015.