This 'Grey's Anatomy' Character Is Getting A Full Stand-Alone Episode In Season 15

Grey's Anatomy's most memorable episodes are often when the cast and crew break from tradition and try something different. They may not be the strongest stories, but ventures like the musical episode and the doctors' plane crash are what basically take up full-time residence in viewers' memories. Following the show's recent addition of three bonus episodes for Season 15, an "Amelia-centric" Grey's Anatomy episode is hitting our screens soon, and it sounds like her story will consist of far more than just her daily routine at the hospital.

ICYMI, ABC granted Grey's Anatomy three bonus episodes earlier this month, bumping its ongoing Season 15 count from 22 to 25 episodes. It's already impressive that the show still produces more than 20 episodes a year when short seasons have become the norm for most TV series, but releasing 25 is even rarer nowadays. Of course, if there's any show that will pack extra episodes with a perfectly frothy amount of drama and romance, it's Grey's Anatomy, so these new additions definitely feel like a deserved feature of Season 15.

Speaking to TVLine, showrunner Krista Vernoff revealed that to her, the order for more episodes was really geared toward her desire to focus on Amelia (Caterina Scorsone). She told the website:

We’ve been making 24 episodes a year for many years now. ABC asked about [doing one more] and I spent a week thinking about whether or not we could accomplish it. I [ultimately] said yes because I like to be a team player... I had an extra standalone episode idea that I wanted to do this season. So it doesn’t really lengthen our season too much. It allows us to tell [this Amelia-centric] story that we might not otherwise have gotten to tell this season.

The crew is keeping story specifics under wraps for now, but Scorsone promised TVLine that the standalone will follow Amelia out of the hospital and feel "like a little movie on its own." When we last saw the character in the fall finale, she lost a patient who had a selfie stick stuck in her head (plots that wouldn't have existed a decade ago for 200, Alex), prompting Amelia to appreciate Betty (Peyton Kennedy) and officially become her foster mom.

Meanwhile, Teddy (Kim Raver) finally told Owen (Kevin McKidd) she was pregnant with his baby, only for Amelia to join them on the elevator when Owen was trying to process the news. Sensing something was wrong, Amelia asked for the truth, but we were left to experience the show's holiday hiatus without knowing whether the pair let her in on the secret. Jan. 17's winter premiere will likely resume where this elevator confrontation left off, but if Amelia has her own episode on the way, she probably won't accept Owen's new connection to Teddy very easily. After all, the show wouldn't have postponed Teddy telling Owen for so long just for everyone to be fine about the baby afterwards. Have you even seen Grey's Anatomy if you thought that'd be the case?

ABC's synopsis for the winter premiere, "Shelter from the Storm," confirms the trio's awkward conversation, reading:

The windstorm continues to blow through Seattle; and after the power goes out at Grey Sloan, the doctors are left scrambling to save their patients’ lives, including Meredith who desperately needs to get to Cece for her heart transplant. Meanwhile, Owen, Amelia and Teddy confront their complicated situation.

Here's to another secret finally being out in the open at Grey Sloan. Season 15 of Grey's Anatomy returns on Thursday, Jan. 17, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.