Grey’s Anatomy has earned a place as one of the most successful TV series of the past decade, but it was almost completely different, as the original plan for it was far from what the audience has witnessed for over a decade – and here’s everything that changed. Created by Shonda Rhimes, Grey’s Anatomy premiered on ABC in 2005 and it has been unstoppable ever since, and while its quality has decreased over the years, the series is confirmed to continue until, at least, its 19th season.
Grey’s Anatomy follows the basic premise of medical dramas and tells the stories of patients and staff at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, and there’s always a lot of drama going on inside and outside the hospital. The series is led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), whose journey began as an intern at Seattle Grace Hospital (now Grey Sloan) and is now Head of General Surgery at the same place, and through her, the audience has met a variety of characters – some close to Meredith, and others on a more antagonistic role. Grey’s Anatomy has also been plagued with tragedy, as the show has become infamous for killing some of its most popular characters, and Meredith herself has been through a lot.
Still, all this drama (and its good dose of comedy) has been key to Grey’s Anatomy’s success, but the original idea for the series was very different. In a Masterclass course, Shonda Rhimes shared some secrets about Grey’s Anatomy, including details about her original idea for it, in which many characters were the complete opposite of what they ended up being, some fan-favorite storylines were planned for other characters, and there were some very strange couples planned. Here’s every way Grey’s Anatomy was almost different.
Seattle is the city that has witnessed everything Meredith and company have gone through, but this wasn’t the city Rhimes originally had in mind for her project. Rhimes explained that she planned to set Grey’s Anatomy in Boston or New York City, as it was not about “small-town life” but about “big city, big medical center, big surgical opportunities”. Rhimes also considered setting Grey’s Anatomy in Chicago, but she decided against it as another big medical drama, ER, was set in Chicago, and she ultimately chose Seattle as it was a city she hadn’t seen often on TV.
Surely, the staff at Seattle Grace/Grey Sloan haven't always been an example of good health and healthy habits, but in Rhimes' original plan for Grey's Anatomy, they all had a big, unhealthy habit that many people struggle to get rid of: smoking. This was mostly seen in Meredith, though apparently, it was a problem among all the doctors in the show. Luckily, this idea was scrapped and Meredith and company don't have a smoking problem, but they could definitely change one or two unhealthy habits, especially as they are doctors and should know best.
Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) is Meredith’s best friend and “person”, as well as one of Grey’s Anatomy’s most beloved characters. Cristina’s most notable relationships were with Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) and Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), but in Rhimes’ original plan, she was going to fall in love with a dying patient. Given how cold Yang was with patients, it seems odd that she would have ended up falling for one, and luckily, the plan changed and that storyline was instead given to Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), who fell in love with Denny Duquette Jr. (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). In addition to that, Yang’s father was going to become a major donor to the hospital.
One of the biggest changes from Rhimes’ original plan for Grey’s Anatomy involves Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), Meredith’s husband. When the audience met Derek, he was married to Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh), which obviously brought a lot of drama to his relationship with Meredith, and it was originally going to be a lot more dramatic as Rhimes planned for Derek to be divorced and with a teenage daughter, who would have convinced him to take the job at Seattle Grace. Rhimes shared that this was Derek’s chance to “make up for all the mistakes he made with her when she was younger”, but in the end, Derek had no children aside from his kids with Meredith.
Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) became one of Grey’s Anatomy’s most beloved characters as he went through the best character development during his time in the show, which is also why his departure was controversial. It comes as a surprise, then, that Alex Karev wasn’t even included in Rhimes’ original plan for the show, and he was added after the pilot was shot… even though he appears in it. Karev was added to the Grey’s Anatomy pilot through the magic of CGI, which is why he looks weird in that episode, but he went on to have one of the most complex but interesting arcs in the series.
Preston Burke is one of Grey’s Anatomy’s most controversial characters for different reasons. Isaiah Washington was involved in a lot of controversy behind the scenes that led to his departure, and the writers gave Burke a not-so-satisfying goodbye. Burke decided not to marry Cristina on their wedding day and left the city shortly after, but he returned years later to offer her a job in Switzerland (and she ended up taking it). In Rhimes’ original plan for Grey’s Anatomy, Preston Burke was already married and had kids, but his family made him feel “trapped”, so his storyline was mostly about him wanting to leave his wife.
Along with Meredith, there are two other characters from Grey’s Anatomy season 1 that are still on the show: Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) and Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson). Webber has served as a father figure to Meredith and other characters, but he was originally described as “not a warm man – with his patients, with his students, with his family”, the complete opposite of what he ended up being. The same happened with Bailey, who is known for being tough, strict, and very direct, though she also has a good heart, but she originally was “surly, quirky, and sorely lacking in people skills”, and her name was Deborah. In addition to that, Bailey/Deborah was supposed to have an “odd but hot” sexual relationship with George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), something that, thankfully, changed by the time Grey’s Anatomy started filming.
The original plan that Shonda Rhimes had for Grey's Anatomy was very different from what the show ended up being, and here's how it changed.Adrienne Tyler