The eleventh season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy premiered on September 25, 2014, in the United States on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and consists of 25 episodes. The season was produced by ABC Studios, in association with Shondaland Production Company and The Mark Gordon Company; the showrunners being Stacy McKee and William Harper. The season commenced airing with the episode "I Must Have Lost it on the Wind" and concluded with the season finale "You're My Home" airing on May 14, 2015. The season was officially released on DVD as a 6-disc boxset under the title of Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Eleventh Season – Life Changes on August 18, 2015, by Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
The season is the first in which Dr. Cristina Yang, portrayed by Sandra Oh, is not included in the main cast of characters following her departure in previous season's finale. The season's main storylines include Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) dealing with "her person's" departure, her problematic love-life with her husband Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and the arrival of Dr. Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary), whom Meredith learns is her half-sister. The biggest storyline of the season was the death of Derek who is involved in a car accident in "How to Save a Life". Other story-arcs include Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) moving to Seattle, learning the ropes at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) try to save their marriage by going to marriage counseling, April Kepner (Sarah Drew) and Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) end up having a boy, named Samuel, who dies moments after birth having been diagnosed to have osteogenesis imperfecta, a lethal birth defect. The season also focuses on the deepening friendship between Meredith and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) causing problems for him and girlfriend Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington).
The season ended with 11.08 million viewers ranking #36 overall in total viewers. This is much lower than the tenth season, which was ranked #15. In the 18–49 key demographic, Grey's Anatomy ranked #13 down 8 places from the previous season, which is the lowest ranking in the series' history. For the 2014–2015 Primetime TV schedule, it was the #5 drama in the 18–49 key demographic. The season was well received among television critics with several praising the writing and performances of the cast, with lead Ellen Pompeo's performance receiving high critical acclaim. In terms of awards and accolades the season garnered 6 nominations at the 41st People's Choice Awards winning 4 including Favorite Network TV Drama, Dempsey and Pompeo won Favorite Dramatic TV Actor and Actress respectively and Oh winning for Favorite TV Character We Miss Most. On May 7, 2015, ABC announced the renewal of Grey's Anatomy for a twelfth season as part of their 2015–16 TV lineup.
The website Screen Rant ranked the season #6 on their 2023 ranking of the 19 Grey's Anatomy seasons.
This season was the only season to feature all ten of the series' longest running characters: Meredith Grey, Miranda Bailey, Richard Webber (22 Seasons), Owen Hunt (18 Seasons), Alex Karev (16 Seasons), Jo Wilson (13 Seasons), Amelia Shepherd (12 Seasons), Jackson Avery, Derek Shepherd (11 Seasons), Callie Torres (10 Seasons)
Episodes
The number in the "No. overall" column refers to the episode's number within the overall series, whereas the number in the "No. in season" column refers to the episode's number within this particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to the number of Americans in millions who watched the episodes live. Each episode of this season is named after a song.
Cast and characters
Main Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey James Pickens Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber Sara Ramirez as Dr. Callie Torres Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery Caterina Scorsone as Dr. Amelia Shepherd Camilla Luddington as Dr. Jo Wilson Jerrika Hinton as Dr. Stephanie Edwards Kelly McCreary as Dr. Maggie Pierce Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd
Recurring Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren Giacomo Gianniotti as Dr. Andrew DeLuca Geena Davis as Dr. Nicole Herman Debbie Allen as Dr. Catherine Avery Kate Burton as Dr. Ellis Grey Nicholas D'Agosto as Dr. Graham Maddox Sally Pressman as Young Ellis Grey Aria Leabu as Young Meredith Grey Connie Ray as Karen Kepner Kevin Alejandro as Dan Pruitt Nicole Cummins as Paramedic Nicole Heather Matarazzo as Joan Paulson Joe Adler as Dr. Isaac Cross Irene Keng as Dr. Audrey Shaw Joe Dinicol as Dr. Mitchell Spencer Samantha Sloyan as Dr. Penelope Blake
Notable guests J. August Richards as Young Richard Webber Patrick Fabian as Dr. Oliver Lebackes Rebecca Field as Sabine McNeil Debra Mooney as Evelyn Hunt Billy Malone as Jon McNeil Annet Mahendru as Ana Kiralee Hayashi as Tracey Mitchell Chad James Buchanan as Brian Taylor John Smith as Nick Ajiona Alexus as Marissa McKay Sydney Sweeney as Erin Weaver Nicole Sullivan as JJ Elizabeth Ann Bennett as Ann Millie Bobby Brown as Ruby
Production Development Grey's Anatomy was renewed for an eleventh season by ABC on May 8, 2014. On May 13, 2014, ABC announced their new schedule, as well as a new timeslot for Grey's Anatomy. The show remained on Thursday night, but it was moved to 8:00 PM E.T. to make room for ShondaLand Production Company's new TV series, How to Get Away with Murder. Even though Paul Lee, the president of ABC, moved Grey's Anatomy to a new timeslot, he announced at ABC's 2014-15 upfront that the eleventh season would air in the same order as the previous season with 2 batches consisting of 12 interrupted episodes.
For the 2014–15 TV season, ABC programmed its entire Thursday primetime lineup with Shondaland dramas Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder, then branded the night as "Thank God It's Thursday" (or "TGIT"). This echoes ABC's former TGIF branding of its Friday night family sitcoms and even NBC's Must See TV promotion of formidable Thursday night television hits in the 1990s.
The remaining fall schedule for ABC was announced on October 30, 2014, where it was announced that Grey's Anatomy would be split into 2 batches. However, instead of the 12 and 12, there will be 8 episodes in the fall which will end with a winter finale on November 20, 2014, like the rest of ABC's primetime lineup "TGIT" Scandal and How To Get Away with Murder. The remaining 16 episodes will air after the winter break, beginning on January 29, 2015.
Writing During an interview, Shonda Rhimes stated that "Season 11 is really a Meredith-centric season. She lost her 'person', her half-sister has shown up, her husband is chafing to go someplace else..." She went on to reveal that she's been wanting to do the "familial grenade" storyline for a long time, and at the end of Season 10, she knew it was the time to do it. Rhimes also claimed that Season 11 will pick up right where Season 10 left us, so there won't be much that the audience won't see. In another interview, Rhimes revealed that she and the writers were thinking about doing flashback periods to the younger days of Dr. Ellis Grey and Dr. Richard Webber. Sarah Drew's character Dr. April Kepner became pregnant at the end of the tenth season, which coincided with Drew's real-life pregnancy.
Casting On August 13, 2013, Sandra Oh revealed that she would be leaving after Season 10 of Grey's Anatomy, making the eleventh season the first season in which Dr. Cristina Yang did not appear. It was announced on March 25, 2014, that Gaius Charles and Tessa Ferrer did not receive a contract renewal for the eleventh season, and left at the end of the tenth season. Jerrika Hinton and Camilla Luddington however, returned as residents for the eleventh season. On January 23, 2014, it was reported that Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey had renewed their contracts for another 3 seasons, as Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd, respectively, meaning their characters would be staying on the medical drama for seasons 11 and 12. On May 2, 2014, the rest of the 6 original cast mates, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr., excluding Sandra Oh, renewed their contracts for another 2 seasons (11 and 12) as Drs. Alex Karev, Miranda Bailey, and Richard Webber, respectively. Sara Ramirez also renewed her contract for another 2 seasons as Dr. Callie Torres.
E! News reported on June 23, 2014, that Caterina Scorsone was upgraded to a series-regular to continue her role as Dr. Amelia Shepherd, one of Dr. Derek Shepherd's 4 sisters. Scorsone had played the character since the seventh season as a recurring role, and played the character as a series-regular on the show's spin-off series, Private Practice. After speculations about who would portray the character Ellis Grey, either Kate Burton or Sarah Paulson, it was announced that Sally Pressman would replace Paulson as Ellis in flashbacks with J. August Richards reprising his role as a young Richard Webber in the same episode. On August 6, 2014, it was confirmed that Burton would return to portray Ellis in flashbacks.
Geena Davis was announced to appear in the season and would have a major guest arc as Dr. Nicole Herman, a fetal surgeon at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. On September 2, 2014, Annet Mahendru of The Americans was announced to guest star for 1 episode, and she played Ana, an undocumented immigrant whose daughter had an 8-pound tumor. It was announced on September 23, 2014, that Connie Ray, known from Space Jam and Stuart Little, would guest star as Dr. April Kepner's mother, Karen, and would appear in the sixth episode. On October 23, 2014, Kelly McCreary was promoted to a series-regular after being credited as guest-starring until the eleventh episode. On April 15, 2015, Reign alum Giacomo Gianniotti was announced to be cast on the show as a possible recurring role for Season 12. On April 28, 2015, it was announced that Joe Adler was cast for the show, and would appear in the final 2 episodes of the season.
Despite signing on for 2 more years after the tenth season, Patrick Dempsey decided that the eleventh season would be his last. The announcement was made on April 23, 2015, just a few hours before his final episode, "How to Save a Life", premiered. Showrunner Shonda Rhimes spoke out about the departure as she said "Derek Shepherd is and will always be an incredibly important character—for Meredith, for me and for the fans. I absolutely never imagined saying goodbye to our 'McDreamy.'"
Filming Not even a week after the Season 10 finale episode aired, the Grey's Anatomy team of writers began collaborating on ideas for Season 11 storylines. Shonda Rhimes tweeted that they were hard at work in the writing room, but would have the month of June off before coming back in full swing to write actual episodes. After the 4th of July weekend, Rhimes tweeted that the writers' room was once again buzzing, as the team had returned from vacation to start writing new episodes for Season 11. Camilla Luddington confirmed that the filming for the eleventh season would begin on July 25, 2014.
Reception
Ratings Grey's Anatomy's eleventh season opened up to 10.14 million viewers with a 3.1/11 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The premiere episode "I Must Have Lost it on the Wind", was the season's most-viewed episode. "When I Grow Up" was the season and series' least-viewed episode, with 6.64 million viewers and a 1.9/7 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The season finale was the series lowest-watched season finale with 8.33 million viewers and 2.2/8 in the 18–49 rating demo.