After 17 Years, Owen and Teddy's Last Day on 'Grey's Anatomy' Is Here, and No One Knows How It Ends
Shonda Rhimescalled it 'bittersweet and joyful.' The first-look images from Thursday's episode tell a slightly different story.
Grey's Anatomy Season 22 wraps up May 7 with an episode titled 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' and, for fans, the finale is carrying more emotional weight than any episode in years. Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver (who have played Dr. Owen Hunt and Dr. Teddy Altman since Seasons 5 and 6 respectively) are exiting the series after the hour, ending a combined 17 to 18 years at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Their departures were confirmed in late March, when Rhimes said of the couple: 'It is both bittersweet and joyful to give this couple the happy ending their story deserves.' What that ending looks like, nobody outside the production knows yet.
What fans do know from the penultimate episode and ABC's released promo images is that the road to any happy ending runs through a catastrophe. A bridge collapses near Seattle, sending dozens of critically injured patients flooding into the hospital and triggering Grey Sloan's full emergency-response protocol. Owen was on that bridge. The previous episode ended with Teddy listening to a voicemail from Owen (he had called to apologize for a recent argument) as the sound of the collision cut the message short. Promo footage released this week shows Owen unconscious inside a car filling with water. Nick Marsh, played by Scott Speedman, is also brought into the ER in serious condition, with Meredith Grey appearing alongside him in a scene that signals real danger.
Meredith's presence in the finale is itself notable. Ellen Pompeo's character has spent most of Season 22 off-screen in Boston, appearing in only seven episodes. When Grey's pulls its protagonist back into the center of the chaos, the show's track record suggests it means something significant.
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Showrunner Meg Marinis has described the episode as enormous by the production's own standards. Camilla Luddington, who plays Dr. Jo Wilson, told People that the cast were stunned reading the finale script at the table read: 'It's not even just one cliffhanger. There's just so many cliffhangers in the finale. Like even as an actor, it's frustrating."
McKidd joined Grey's Anatomy in 2008, going on to direct 48 episodes of the series including his own farewell Thursday night. Raver joined in a recurring capacity in 2009, departed after Season 8, returned as a series regular, and has remained a central figure in the show's long second act. Marinis has left the door open for both to return as guests. 'While their story is coming to a close,' she said in a statement, 'this is never truly a goodbye.'
Grey's Anatomy has already been renewed for a 23rd season on ABC. 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' airs Thursday, May 7 at 10 p.m. ET, with the episode available to stream on Hulu the following day.
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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 5:23 AM.