Grey’s Anatomy Kevin McKidd Says Owen Hunt’s Exit Was Almost Different

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Initially, Kevin McKidd had picked, chosen and loved a completely different ending for Dr. Owen Hunt. 

As a huge Grey’s Anatomy fan, I was so touched by Owen’s exit in the season 22 finale! Seeing him walk off with Teddy towards a new life felt like a beautiful ending. But honestly, the actor who played Owen, Kevin McKidd, actually had a much sadder idea for how his character’s story could have ended.

In an interview with TopMob News, McKidd revealed he’d been thinking about how his character, Owen, might leave the show for years. He always envisioned a heroic death for Owen, considering the character’s backstory as a traumatized war veteran.

Colleen Hoover, known for her novel It Ends With Us, revealed that she felt a meaningful death for her character on Grey’s Anatomy—where she’s been a cast member since 2008—would have been fitting.

Before the last episode, it seemed like Owen might die, but he surprisingly survived a terrible bridge collapse. This allowed him to reunite with Teddy in what many fans consider one of the most joyful endings in the history of Grey’s Anatomy.

In the end, Meg Marinis, the showrunner, persuaded McKidd that having his character survive would work better with the story.

He agreed with her, noting that the show has had a lot of character deaths recently. He doesn’t think audiences would want to see another main character die.

Okay, so he gets it, you know? He totally sees how messed up everything is right now – it’s genuinely frightening! And that’s why he wants to give us something hopeful, a fresh start. He wants to tell a story about a new beginning, like turning the page and starting a whole new chapter. It’s brilliant, honestly. He just understands what we need right now.

As expected, Teddy and Owen decided to work on their relationship instead of getting divorced. They’ve chosen to move to Paris so Teddy can pursue her research.

“I think they’re going to build a life together,” McKidd explained. “I think it’s beautiful.”

Ending his time on the show with a strong scene alongside Raver, whom McKidd praised as a true professional, also felt right for his character’s journey.

I’ve been observing Teddy and Owen’s relationship, and it’s really shifted over time. Initially, Teddy tended to look up to Owen and go wherever he led – she was definitely following his lead, almost like she was chasing after him. But I felt it was time for a change, for Owen to be the one doing the following for a while, to reciprocate that energy.

Of course, a happy ending also leaves the OR door open.

McKidd explained that he doesn’t see this as a permanent farewell, hinting he’ll likely return to direct an episode within the next couple of months. He playfully suggested his character, Owen, might get tired of living in Paris and decide to come back to Seattle.

For more of Grey’s Anatomy‘s most shocking moments, keep reading…

The first episode of Grey’s Anatomy started with a surprise for new surgical intern Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo): she discovered that the attractive man she’d spent the night with—played by Patrick Dempsey—was actually her new boss, the famous surgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd. Talk about an awkward beginning!

As a longtime follower of pop culture, I remember exactly where I was when Addison Montgomery – Kate Walsh, of course! – first appeared on Grey’s Anatomy. It was the season one finale, and the scene was shocking. She just walked into Seattle Grace and straight up told Meredith, ‘You must be the woman who’s been screwing my husband!’ Honestly, as a fan, I was as stunned as Meredith looked! It was an instantly iconic moment and completely set the stage for all the drama to come.

In its second season, Grey’s Anatomy aired right after the Super Bowl and immediately grabbed viewers’ attention with a high-stakes scene. Meredith bravely stuck her hand inside a patient to prevent a live explosive from going off. Just when everyone started to relax as the bomb squad chief, Dylan (played by Kyle Chandler), carried the explosive away, it detonated, tragically injuring him.

Oh my god, I was completely invested when Izzie started falling for Denny. He was just… perfect. I was rooting for them so hard, and honestly, I fell for him right along with her! Then, that whole thing with the LVAD wire… I thought she could fix it, you know? I was devastated when he died in the finale. It was then I realized… Grey’s wasn’t about giving us what we wanted. It wasn’t about happy endings. It was brutal, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

As a lifestyle expert, I’ve seen plenty of dramatic TV moments, but the ferry accident in Grey’s Anatomy Season Three still gets me. It wasn’t just the shock of seeing Meredith pulled from the icy water – it was what happened after. Honestly, the most chilling part wasn’t nearly drowning, it was her confession that at one point, she just…stopped fighting. That vulnerability, that admission of giving up, was far more surprising and impactful than the accident itself.

At the start of season three, Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) joined Seattle Grace Hospital as an intern. Her arrival echoed how Derek first met Meredith – they had a brief encounter the night before she started – but thankfully, it didn’t lead to anything romantic. Lexie quickly introduced herself to George O’Malley in the intern locker room. As it turned out, she was Meredith’s younger half-sister, one of two daughters raised by their father, Thatcher, and his second wife, Susan, adding another layer to the hospital’s complex relationships.

Over two and a half seasons after his character died, Denny Duquette reappeared on the show as a ghost – and shockingly, he had a romantic encounter with Izzie Stevens. This bizarre scene wasn’t just for shock value; it was a way to subtly hint to both Izzie and the audience that she was seriously ill. Eventually, it was revealed she had stage IV metastatic melanoma that had spread to her brain.

Everyone anticipated Izzie would be the one to die in the season five finale, but George’s unexplained absence should have been a warning. When Meredith discovered the unidentified patient brought in after being hit by a bus—a man who’d risked his life to help someone else—was writing “007” (a nickname from earlier in the show) on his hand, she desperately tried to warn the surgeons. Sadly, it was too late, and he died.

This is easily one of the most upsetting events in the history of Grey’s Anatomy. In the season six finale, a grieving widower, fueled by loss and arriving shortly after the hospital merged with Mercy West, came to the hospital with a gun. The result was devastating: several doctors were killed or wounded. The horrifying image of Bailey being pulled from under a hospital bed remains incredibly disturbing, though thankfully she survived. Sadly, Meredith and Derek’s baby didn’t make it; Meredith believed Derek had died and tragically suffered a miscarriage after he was shot.

Just two seasons after a devastating shooting at Seattle Grace Hospital, Shonda Rhimes once again put her characters through a major crisis. In the season eight finale, a plane carrying several doctors – including Meredith, Derek, Cristina Yang, Lexie, Mark Sloan, and Arizona Robbins – crashed while they were traveling to Boise, Idaho for a surgery. The crash left them stranded and injured, and no one knew they were missing. Sadly, Mark and Lexie died, Arizona lost a leg, and Derek almost permanently lost the use of his hand.

When Sandra Oh decided to leave Grey’s Anatomy after season 10, the show found a dramatic way to say goodbye to her character, Cristina. They brought back Isaiah Washington as her former fiancé, Preston Burke, who she’d been left at the altar by years earlier. Burke offered Cristina his hospital in Switzerland, providing a reason for her departure. It was particularly surprising to see Washington return, given his controversial exit from the show – he’d previously used a deeply offensive slur against co-star T.R. Knight.

The season 10 finale of the show saw Cristina leave and Dr. Maggie Pierce, played by Kelly McCreary, join as the new head of cardio-thoracic surgery. In a surprising reveal at the end of the episode, Maggie told Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) that she was the daughter of the famous Dr. Ellis Grey. Richard wasn’t the only one shocked by the news – Meredith also learned she had another sister.

Everyone was shocked when Derek unexpectedly died near the end of season 11. He’d just rescued a family from a car accident when he was fatally injured in a collision. It was particularly surprising because Patrick Dempsey had recently renewed his contract. While Shonda Rhimes may have felt it was the only way to realistically remove the character without invalidating their eleven-year relationship, it was still a painful moment for viewers.

Mer had already faced so much, but in the twelfth season’s ninth episode, she experienced a terrifying attack by a patient. The assault resulted in a broken jaw that had to be wired shut to allow her hearing to recover. A particularly powerful scene featured Mer’s distress when her children weren’t able to visit her while she healed, a moment brilliantly portrayed by Ellen Pompeo.

Okay, let’s talk about Alex Karev’s shocking exit from Grey’s Anatomy. It was a real surprise, right? Justin Chambers left mid-season, and the show explained it by revealing Alex had reconnected with Izzie years after their split. Turns out, she’d been raising their twins on a farm, and he chose to be with them! Honestly, nobody saw that twist coming – it was a total shocker, even for a seasoned TV watcher like myself. They had him explain everything in letters to Jo, Meredith, and Bailey, which felt like the right way to handle such a big reveal.

During season 17, viewers saw Dr. Andrea “Andrew” DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) tragically die. After dealing with personal mental health challenges, DeLuca had become an attending physician at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. However, as is common in Grey’s Anatomy, his progress was cut short when he was stabbed by someone connected to a human trafficking operation.

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2026-05-08 16:18