Meredith and Derek will be struggling to smooth out the issues in their relationship following Meredith's refusal to move to Washington D.C. when the upcoming season of "Grey's Anatomy" returns in September.
The previous season ended with Meredith feeling cast aside when Derek decides to uproot his family from Seattle to Washington D.C. But Meredith stands her ground and refuses to leave everything behind, causing friction in their relationship.
While a number of fans feel that this might eventually result in the two calling it quits on their marriage, executive producer Shonda Rhimes said that their arguments will not lead up to a divorce.
"I don't think that it's a marriage-ending argument. It feels very TV for people's marriages to end over easy things or hard things," Rhimes told Entertainment Weekly. "I actually would like to watch a couple have a hard time in their marriage, and have it not be that means their marriage is over."
"There's something really great about watching a couple have a mature marriage where stuff goes wrong, things are hard, and people try to push through it and figure it out," she added.
Meanwhile, Meredith might unknowingly become the cause for problems between Alex and Jo. Cristina Yang's departure and the fact that Meredith and Alex are the only two remaining from the original set of interns will bring the two close, much to Jo's chagrin.
"Jo is going to be horrified to discover how much time Alex is going to be spending with Meredith and how much time Meredith is going to be spending [at their] house," Rhimes told TVLine.
Also, the fact that Meredith is going through a tough phase in her relationship with Derek will bring her closer to Alex.
"The two people she talked to before — her husband and her best friend — are now not available to her," Shonda said. "So she's looking for someone to talk to. And Alex finds himself in the uncomfortable position of being the recipient of a lot of the stuff that Cristina would have been left listening to — sometimes in very funny ways."
"Grey's Anatomy" returns on 25 September at 8 p.m. on ABC.
