It feels like Grey’s Anatomy season 22 has only just begun, and yet it’s already almost time for the show to sign off the air for the year! That’s right, the Grey’s Anatomy fall finale is fast approaching, with ABC confirming the final new episode of the year will air on Thursday, November 13 at 10/9c.
While this news is disappointing, it’s far from surprising as ABC has traditionally sent its scripted shows into a hiatus for the holiday season sometime in mid-to-late November. What is surprising is that ABC has also announced when Grey’s Anatomy season 22 will resume following the holiday break, and the show’s return date is far earlier than expected.
Rather than holding Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s second half until spring, ABC will be bringing Grey’s Anatomy and the 911 shows back into the mix the first week of the new year. As confirmed by the network’s midseason schedule, Grey’s Anatomy – along with 911 and 911: Nashville – will all return with new episodes on January 8, 2026.
This will mark the first time since the 2019-2020 season that Grey's Anatomy will not be taking an extended break, and will actually return alongside ABC's other primetime dramas in January. In the 2020-2021 season, ABC began holding Grey's Anatomy back, which allowed it to air the episodes with fewer interruptions than when the show returned in January.
This is exciting news as it means we won’t have to wait months for new episodes after the fall finale, but it’s not all good news.
Grey’s Anatomy season 22 is likely to have more reruns in the schedule
With ABC bringing Grey’s Anatomy back at the beginning of the new year, this means that fans are going to likely be getting a lot more reruns in the early months of the year. This isn’t speculation, but rather just the reality of the scheduling decision ABC has made in deciding to bring the show back at the beginning of the new year rather than holding it for closer to spring.
You see, in past years, ABC has aired the fall finales of its Thursday night dramas, including Grey’s Anatomy, in November and the shows then take a long break that keeps them off the air until March. This was the case last season with Grey’s Anatomy season 21 being off the air for nearly three months before returning on March 6.
Although it’s always rough having to wait such a long time for new episodes, the silver lining of this approach is that when Grey’s Anatomy returned in the spring, the show’s remaining episodes would air with little interruption. This meant that fans were able to look forward to new episodes every week for several consecutive weeks in a row.
With Grey’s Anatomy coming back in January, ABC will have to space the few episodes out over several months. This means fans should expect to see a much more sporadic release schedule for episodes in the second half of the season, with multiple breaks in the season in which new episodes will not air.
So while we will be getting Grey’s Anatomy back in January, the cost of the show’s early renewal is going to be more mini-breaks in the second half of the season.