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'I have not read a script where that line has been crossed'
Grey's Anatomy Season 17 was a rough one for pretty much everyone at Grey Sloan Memorial as the hospital went to the brink and back while trying to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. When Grey's returns on Thursday for Season 18, the hospital and its staff will be in a post-COVID world, allowing the show to return to more of its staple relationship dynamics and drama.
"It's sort of more of a return to form with COVID being in the past," series star Chris Carmack told TV Guide. "There's more romance, there's more fun, there's more interaction. It was really hard to play the reality of COVID and all the protocols and still have that rich character [interaction]. I think we're back to the storytelling that Grey's is best at."
While things might be more optimistic on Grey's as a whole, Carmack's character Link isn't exactly seeing things on the bright side. His girlfriend and mother of his child Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) said no to his marriage proposal in the Season 17 finale and Link is still heartbroken and trying to process her answer when the show returns.
"I'm really interested in Link exploring what his relationship with Amelia means now," Carmack said. "Currently, he's very of the mind that 'we have to get married and we have to have a family, and this is what I want.' And it is really what he wants, but obviously, she's got different ideas. He's going to have to really break [it] down in his head and find out what this means. I think relationships and co-parenting is such a complicated and messy thing to do. So I think Link is going to really mature this season in terms of his ideas of what that can be. I'm excited to see what he comes up with."
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Of course, dating someone you work with means that you can't avoid them, even when they've ripped your heart out. Amelia and Link will be in the thick of it in the first episode back.
"In the very first episode, we do find Link and Amelia having to work together on a case. They are professional and they are able to put their personal stuff behind them to work on the medical, but you actually have this pretty hilarious dynamic of them putting their personal life aside, yet their personal life is playing out in the characters that they're treating," Carmack teased. "They are trying to be professional, but the argument in front of them is very close to home."
Meanwhile, in the wake of his rejection, Link moved in with Jo (Camilla Luddington). The two will be cohabitating when Grey's Season 18 begins, but Luddington says romantic sparks have not started to fly between the old friends. They are supporting each other as Link's heart heals and Jo adjusts to being a new adoptive mom.
"I think that as of right now I haven't read a script where that [romantic] line has been crossed," Luddington revealed. "They are really leaning on each other right now. She's a new single mama and navigating babies by herself and Link is her guy to lean on. Link is obviously leaning on Jo since he proposed for the hundredth time and got rejected again. They are living together, but it's very much best friends just living together in the penthouse." However, the actress isn't denying the potential for a hookup. "I've definitely seen those tweets from fans and it's Grey's Anatomy, so you never know."
As for Carmack, he's leaving it up to the Grey's Anatomy creative team to decide if Jo and Link should head down that path in Season 18. "I trust the writers to take it in a good direction. I think it really could play out beautifully either way," he said. "I really do trust the writers to do the best thing."
Grey's Anatomy Season 18 premieres Thursday, Sept. 30 at 9/8c on ABC.