Caution: spoilers ahead!

Season 17 of Grey’s Anatomy is set to debut in September, and new and old fans alike are wondering whether Meredith Gray (Ellen Pompeo) will hold onto her new flame, Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti).

The relationship is intriguing for a variety of reasons. Meredith has struggled to form a lasting bond with someone ever since Derek Shepherd died in Season 11. DeLuca, who has spent Seasons 12 through 16 bouncing around in his dating life, is desperate for steady romance. The two were originally never meant to be together romantically and yet here we are.

On top of all of this, Meredith and DeLuca have a significant age difference. She’s around 40-41 and DeLuca is about 29. This 10-year gap is nothing to sneeze at for Meredith, who has mainly dated older men. However, the Grey’s Anatomy showrunners are looking to change the dialogue around age gaps and challenge their audience to accept love as love. But have Grey’s fans been accepting of this new development?

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At First, DeLuca Didn’t Have Many Fans

Grey’s Anatomy fans had their hearts ripped from their chests when Derek Shepherd died near the end of Season 11. Many argued that as soapy and dramatic as Grey’s has been, Derek’s death was far too jarring. Plus, McDreamy was a show staple that many fans were not willing to let go of.

via: Cosmopolitan

With such a fresh heartbreak over one of the show’s most beloved characters, it’s no surprise that fans were reluctant to welcome Gianniotti’s character into the fandom. Gianniotti had a great deal of work cut out for him, as he had to convince the Grey’s Anatomy audience that he was worthy of more than one season and that his character was likable.

“I came in directly after they killed off Patrick Dempsey [Dr. Derek Shepherd] so there was this weird stigma that I was replacing him, which is not true at all,” Gianniotti said in an interview, according to the New York Post.

Furthermore, DeLuca had a rocky entrance. When he first arrived at Grey Sloan Memorial at the end of Season 11, he announced that he was not only a doctor, but “actually, a surgeon.” He also had a suit on, so the other doctors assumed he was an attending. DeLuca then got ostracized by the other interns after his true status as a fellow intern was revealed.

Though many long-time viewers vowed to never watch Grey’s Anatomy again after Derek’s death, (one Twitter user named Natalie Brodie said in 2015 that the show had ruined her life) those that stuck around began to see DeLuca as more than a Derek Shepherd replacement. He was charming, handsome, and as Refinery writer Rebecca Farley put it, “a bit of an idiot.” His looks and personality eventually won him a place in the fandom’s heart and soon enough, he graduated from tentative newcomer to series regular.

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DeLuca and Meredith Were Originally Not Supposed to Be Romantic Partners

At the beginning of his career on Grey’s Anatomy, Gianniotti promised that his character would not become romantically involved with Meredith Gray.

“I’m just a new character on the show. I’m not filling any void,” Gianniotti explained in the 2016 New York Post interview. “I’ve been getting those crazy tweets: ‘He’s not Derek,’ ‘He’d better stay away from Meredith.’ But Andrew won’t have any [romantic] intentions with Meredith, so fans don’t have to worry about any threat.”

via: Newsweek

For a decent amount of time, Shonda Rhimes and her fellow showrunners honored that promise. DeLuca got into his own trouble without the help of Meredith. He moved in with Arizona Robbins after the other interns ostracized him. He dated Maggie Pierce for a hot minute, only to break up with her in order to “keep things professional.” He developed feelings for Jo Wilson, which led to Alex Karev (long-time cast member Justin Chambers) beating him within an inch of his life. He rekindled a romance with his ex, Sam Bello.

Well, fast forward to Season 14, when the Grey’s Anatomy writers decided that enough time had passed since Derek’s untimely death. At Jo and Alex’s wedding, DeLuca drunkenly kissed Meredith after she tried to save him from a miserable wedding speech. Meredith originally brushed off the kiss as a moment of inebriated affection but did tell DeLuca that it was flattering.

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DeLuca and Meredith’s Relationship and Age Difference

Exploring a romance between DeLuca and Meredith in Season 12, right after Derek’s death, would have been strongly rejected by fans and frankly, unrealistic in terms of character development. Waiting until the end of Season 14 seemed to be the right move, as DeLuca was more established. Plus, both he and Meredith were single. (And when two doctors on Grey’s Anatomy are single, they might as well try it out, right?)

So far, the formula seems to have worked. Though some fans do seem to be bothered by Meredith's antics and the significant age difference, many are choosing to accept it as it is. In fact, Grey’s Anatomy showrunners have claimed that one of their goals in this relationship is to de-stigmatize older women dating younger men, especially since older men dating younger women is more common on TV shows.

via: TV Guide

"All the time on television you see older men with younger women and it is so common that it isn't even a thing that people notice," showrunner Krista Vernoff told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019. "It was not a conversation that Derek was so much older than Meredith. It was just that he was the senior surgeon. The age difference wasn't a conversation. I find it delightful to have the opportunity to flip that script. And when people buck against their age difference, my response is to say, 'So? Let's not fall into weird stereotypes.' People are people—and people fall in love."

So, what does this mean? Will DeLuca and Meredith stick together in what may be the final season of Grey’s Anatomy? We’ll have to tune in this September to find out.

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