How Grey’s Anatomy Season 17 Subtly Teased Owen’s Death

Owen Hunt is still part of Grey’s Anatomy, but viewers could be saying goodbye to him in season 17, as the series might have teased his death early on in the season. Created by Shonda Rhimes, Grey’s Anatomy premiered on ABC in 2005, and even though it started as a mid-season replacement, it quickly earned the praise of critics and viewers, which allowed it to continue for many more years. Now with over 10 seasons and counting, Grey’s Anatomy shows no signs of stopping soon, even if many fan-favorite characters are now gone and the ones that remain might surprise the audience by leaving at any moment.

Like any other medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy follows the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they do their best to juggle their professional and personal lives, which often end up overlapping and mixing, making way for a lot of drama inside and outside the hospital. Grey’s Anatomy is led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who started as an intern at Seattle Grace Hospital and has now become head of general surgery at the same place, and through her, viewers have met a variety of characters, both doctors and patients, who have won over the audience’s hearts. Among those is Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), a trauma surgeon who has gone through a lot not only in the series but also before he joined Seattle Grace Hospital, which has made him very popular among Grey’s Anatomy fans.

Owen Hunt made his debut in Grey’s Anatomy season 5 and made a big first impression by performing a tracheotomy on a man with a pen, winning the admiration of resident (and his future wife) Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh). Owen was a United States Army surgeon specialized in trauma surgery, and because of that, he had an unstable personality and suffered from PTSD, which he struggled to overcome. Like many other characters in the series, Owen has gone through a lot of ups both in his personal and professional life, and by the time season 17 began, he had just gotten out of a relationship with Teddy Altman (Kim Raver), and because that isn’t complicated enough, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the hospital, requiring the help of every doctor – and this might be the beginning of Owen’s end.

Many fans noted that there was something strange (and dark) in a conversation between Owen and Teddy in the premiere episode of Grey’s Anatomy season 17, in which Owen admitted that working on the front lines of the pandemic was making him reconsider his will and their future together, and even mentioned his worries about what would happen to his children if he died. Teddy told him that she was “not ok with him dying” and then had to return to work, with Owen replying “let’s talk later, then”. Fans were immediately alarmed by this as Grey’s Anatomy has previously (and subtly) foreshadowed big events and deaths – in season 5, Meredith started having dreams about Derek dying in an accident, which happened in season 11, and also in season 5, Arizona mentioned her fear of flying, which was justified in season 8 when the plane where she, Meredith, Derek, Cristina, Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), and Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) were in crashed.

Now, while Meredith is the one battling COVID in Grey’s Anatomy season 17, fans are used to the series having plot twists and she will surely survive, but another character might have to leave, and it might be Owen. If Owen’s arc is to end in season 17, hopefully the writers of Grey’s Anatomy will give him a proper end that suits the character, as they aren’t exactly known for handling well the departures of their characters.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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