Grey’s Anatomy fans knew someone from days of yore would be returning to the show for the season 18 premiere, but they just didn’t know who it would be.
After airing promos teasing that “someone from Meredith’s past comes back,” the venerable ABC hospital drama revealed on Thursday, Sept. 30 that the person was transplant surgeon Nick Marsh, as played by Scott Speedman, who is now a series regular this season. The reunion occurred when Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) bumped into him during a chance encounter at a restaurant in Minnesota while she was being recruited by a neurosurgeon portrayed by Peter Gallagher.
Although Nick and Meredith clicked during his single season 14 episode, during which they flirted as he recovered from surgery to repair his kidney, fans may have been hoping to see someone they’d had more time to get to know.
One apparently disappointed fan tweeted a photo of Kate Walsh‘s Addison with the message, “Who we wanted,” followed by a pic of Nick Marsh, who was accompanied by the note, “Who we got.” Luckily, fans will have that wish come true soon enough, as Kate, who departed as a series regular after season three, is indeed set to return this season.