Dr. Catherine Fox is back and better than ever for Grey’s Anatomy season 20 — and, per Debbie Allen, she’s whipping the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital’s interns into shape.
“This season is going to be something,” Allen, 74, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting Prevent Blindness and Regeneron’s Gr8 Eye Movement campaign on Thursday, March 14. “Tonight’s show gets off with a blast.”
The season 19 finale, which aired in May 2023, saw Kim Raver’s Teddy Altman collapse in the operating room. With husband Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) at her side, the interns are left alone with a body on the operating table.
“The interns, even in our teases, they’re in trouble,” Allen teased. “That means Catherine Fox is on their butt.”
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Grey’s season 20 has been shortened to 10 episodes in the wake of the SAG-AFTRA strike, which came to an end in December 2023. But according to Allen, each episode is “packed with wonderful new characters, great stories and real medical situations.”
This time around, Grey’s has some major changes. Their new showrunner, Meg Marinis, is “amazing,” Allen told Us. And while Ellen Pompeo is no longer a series regular, the presence of the actress who’s played Meredith Grey since 2005 is still felt. (Allen revealed that she was filming with Pompeo before speaking with Us.)
Along with playing Catherine, a role she’s held since 2011, Allen is “busy directing” and “helping to supervise casting scripts” while on set.
“I can say that there are some dynamic medical situations that are going to happen. Some are extraordinary that you don’t even have a clue about it,” she continued. “We learn about it as we go sometimes, because the writers are always out there looking.”
Real doctors are always close by on the Grey’s set to offer input into the medical scenarios. Something, Allen told Us is intentional.
“A lot of people learn about their medical situations from Grey’s Anatomy. They’ve learned a lot,” the actress added. “So, I know how important it is.”
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Along with the medical story lines on Grey’s, Allen always keeps her own health top of mind. She teamed up with Prevent Blindness and Regeneron to launch the Gr8 Eye Movement in September 2023, which aims to raise awareness about the risk of developing serious retinal diseases like wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), diabetic macular edema (DME) and diabetic retinopathy (DR).
“Truth has become a very subjective thing. To get information that is really right and honest and good, is important so people can protect themselves,” Allen said. “Retinal diseases are very serious and there are things that people can do. … There are things that you can do and we need to not just accept that it’s a normal part of aging.”
Allen herself has been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, which was a factor in creating this campaign. The ABC star made it clear that “on the eighth of every month, that is a time to prioritize your eye health” with checkups.
“These were some things that I learned about as well because diabetes has always been a big part of my family history, and I’ve always been on the lookout for it. So, it was personal for me. It is personal for me,” Allen continued. “I think if I can use my celebrity to bring attention to something good right now, which is being proactive and information and getting people to go on our website. The Gr8 Eye Movement campaign is just a win-win situation for everybody.”
Grey’s Anatomy airs on ABC Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
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