The Grey's Anatomy Season 18 Premiere Had An Easter Egg From The Very First Ep

Something’s afoot at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, but you’ll have to be an eagle-eyed superfan to catch it. Ellen Pompeo just revealed such a fun detail about the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 that you may have missed. ICYMI, Season 18 Episode 1 featured a very familiar-looking ‘fit for Meredith Grey, and no, it wasn’t your imagination. On an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday, Oct. 7, Ellen Pompeo confirmed a Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 Easter egg, and it’s so good.

For a refresher, in the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy Season 18, you may have noticed a particular shirt that looked awfully familiar. Well, if you guessed you’d seen it before, you were right. When discussing Season 18 on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel brought up some predictions about the plot and the ongoing rumors that this could be the final season of Grey’s Anatomy. “A lot of people think this is going to be your last season,” said Kimmel. Then, after Pompeo acted surprised, he said, “Yeah. And I think you added fuel to that fire,” pulling out a printed card of Pompeo’s Sept. 30 tweet, which confirmed a huge Easter egg in Episode 1.

The tweet was a retweet of a fan’s post that featured two photos. The first was the shirt she was wearing in the Season 1 pilot episode, and the second was Pompeo wearing the same shirt in the first episode of Season 18. “Easter egg found...” wrote Pompeo with a peeping eye emoji. “Look out for more,” the star concluded.

After Kimmel asked it was the same shirt, Pompeo nodded and said, “It is the same shirt.” She continued, “I think [the wardrobe department] hung onto it. All that stuff is property of ABC studios.”

“So, does this mean something?” Kimmel asked, hoping to get more answers about the shirt. Luckily, Pompeo divulged a bit of information, but she kept tight-lipped about what the future of Grey’s Anatomy will look like. “It’s [a] very specific idea. It was my idea to pay homage to many things in many different seasons and to give the audience things to watch out for,” revealed the actor.

Of course, Kimmel didn’t leave it at that. Instead, he asked if Pompeo had a reason for putting in Easter eggs. But Pompeo dodged the question and said, “It’s working because [the fans] are seeing things.”

Although Pompeo said it was her idea to include some Easter eggs, she revealed she wasn’t “specific” about which Easter eggs would be put in, and she doesn’t know what they will be ahead of time. So, when the shirt showed up on her wardrobe rack, she recognized it and realized it would be one of the first throwbacks.

You can watch the full interview clip with Pompeo below.

Here’s to hunting for all of the Easter eggs to come! You can catch Grey’s Anatomy on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.