Less than two months from now, Season 11 of "Grey's Anatomy" will finally air on the small screen, putting to rest some of the speculations on the premiere and other plot developments (although it's expected that there will still be a number of them even while the series is underway).
As early as now, it has been revealed that Kate Burton will be on the show to reprise her role as Meredith's mother, also known as Ellis Grey.
"In the Season 10 finale, the new head of cardio Margaret Pierce (Kelly McCreary) was revealed to be the half-sister of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), whom their now deceased mother Ellis Grey gave up for adoption unbeknownst to her father, Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr)," TV Guide said.
Sounds very interesting indeed, as executive producer Shonda Rhimes also observed.
"It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out," Rhimes said about introducing Meredith's half-sibling to viewers of the series. "'Because we've all known about it for so long, it's always been layered in."
"It's not a thing where we're going in and backdating," she continued. "It's literally always been layered into the story line. We can literally go back and pull out moments of the show and I'm excited to do so, and point out where it was talked about. It's not going to be so hard to do."
Meredith's late mother will be appearing "in flashbacks," TVLine noted. "Ellis, who will appear in flashbacks, was last seen in the Season 8 episode 'If/Then,'" the site added.
Last month, Rhimes did say that the 11th season will focus on Meredith "as she explores life without her "person" and the challenges that come with having a husband who believes his career is more important than hers," The Hollywood Reporter said.
"It's really a Meredith-centric season," Rhimes told THR. "There's a lot of growth. She's lost her person. Her sister has showed up. Her husband is chafing to go someplace else. She's got all these things going on. Maybe that's the theme, maybe it's independence. But for me right now, it feels like it's Meredith. I'm feeling her more acutely because she's lost her person."
Rhimes then went on to explain that, considering the "Meredith-centric" plot, it was "the right moment to meet Meredith's sister, to meet Ellis Grey's other daughter."
"There's Meredith's sister, which are the other children of Thatcher Grey (Jeff Perry), and then there is Ellis Grey's other daughter, which is a whole other thing, which is the only child that came out of a relationship with somebody who Ellis was in love is very different from Meredith being born from Thatcher and Ellis," the show's producer continued.
"I knew the Richard-Ellis love child was a storyline since I planned the pilot. I was like, 'At some point, we're going to have the Richard-Ellis love child,'" she added. "I think it's time for Maggie to show up. It was just the right moment. All of those moments have been seeded in. The dialogue of all of Ellis' love child is all planted in the show. It's not something that we have to backdate and go back and find. We've known about it all along."
Catch the "Grey's Anatomy" season premiere on September 25 on ABC.