Jesse Williams Will Return To ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ For Season 16 & Season 17

Jesse Williams’ character, Dr. Jackson Avery, will live to see another day at Grey Sloan Memorial on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, according to a report from Deadline.

The Season 15 finale ended with a major cliffhanger which left fans concerned about the fate of Dr. Jackson Avery, as previously reported by The Inquisitr.

During the episode, Jackson and his girlfriend, Dr. Maggie Pierce, played by Kelly McCreary, decided to take a camping trip. While on their adventure, Maggie ends up being bitten by an insect and later twisted her ankle, which forced the couple to search for a route to return to the hospital. They soon realize that making it back to the hospital won’t be as easy as they anticipated because of a dense fog now covering the city. They soon find themselves stuck in traffic caused by a multi-car pile up on the highway.

Jackson decided to get out of the car and go investigate, but as the episode ended, viewers watched as Maggie stood in the middle of the road yelling for her man, who could no longer be seen because of the heavy fog.

After the finale, fans of the actor learned that he would be stepping into his first Broadway role, as Darren Lemming in Richard Greenberg’s Tony Award-winning play, Take Me Out, according to a report from Entertainment Tonight. This new role added fuel to the rumor that Williams’ character would be killed off in Season 16, but that simply isn’t the case.

Deadline has explained that Williams has just inked a new contract to continue the medical drama series for two more seasons, Season 16 and Season 17.

It turns out, the cliffhanger was simply a creative decision for the show’s writers.

“It was a creative decision. It was a cliffhanger. I want people to come back [in the fall] and talk all summer and wonder what happens to him,” showrunner Krista Vernoff explained while talking to The Hollywood Reporter.

When asked if Season 17 would be the end of the long-running series, Vernoff said she hasn’t heard anything.

“I’ve heard nothing yet. I’m under contract through season 17, that’s what I can tell you,” she said.

As for Williams’ Broadway debut, Take Me Out will follow Lemming, “the star center fielder for the Empires who comes out of the closet and must deal with the reception he receives off the field after it reveals a barrage of long-held unspoken prejudices,” Entertainment Weekly outlined.

Take Me Out opens on April 23, 2020, at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater.