Grey’s Anatomy season 22 ended with two longtime doctors leaving town for good and a third doctor’s future left up in the air. While Teddy's and Owen’s fates were clear due to the knowledge that Kim Raver and Kevin McKidd were exiting the show, the same could not be said for Harry Shum Jr.’s Dr. Benson “Blue” Kwan.
As the season ended, Blue found his future at Grey Sloan on the line after he administered an experimental cancer treatment without FDA approval. While Bailey tried to cover for Blue, Richard put the pieces together and fired Blue from the hospital, but Blue wasn’t about to give up without a fight.
When all available doctors were paged to provide support as the hospital was hit with an influx of trauma patients from the bridge collapse, Blue showed up hoping to prove to Richard that he deserved to remain at Grey Sloan. Upon spotting Blue on the floor, Richard attempted to have him removed from the hospital, but Teddy made it clear that she needed Blue’s assistance and allowed him to remain on shift.
After some advice from Teddy to show Richard why he’s different and the hospital needs him, Blue pleads his case in hopes of convincing Richard to give him another chance. Unfortunately, Richard was not having it as he asks Blue to turn over his badge, and he made it clear that Blue’s time at the hospital has come to an end.
The moment left Blue’s future at Grey Sloan up in the air, with fans worried about whether Shum Jr. might also be leaving the show in addition to Raver and McKidd.
In breaking his silence following the finale Shum Jr. admitted that he’s just as in the dark as fans when it comes to Blue’s future on the show. He also seemed to hint that the fans’ reactions to Blue’s season-ending cliffhanger could make or break his future.
"I'm just as much in the dark as audiences," Shum Jr. told E! News. "But to me, it's a hope of: Do audiences want to see him go or do they want to see him go back to the hospital?"
While Shum Jr. admitted that he’s unclear about what the future will hold for Blue, he does think that it’s important for Grey’s Anatomy to show that its doctors are flawed.
"I think it's good to see the doctors when they do make a mistake, but also with good intentions. It wasn't just because he was a bumbling mess."
Blue certainly had good intentions, and we’ve seen doctors do worse and still find their way back to Grey Sloan, so we’re optimistic that this is not the last we’ve seen of Shum Jr. on the show. Thankfully, there has been no indication that Shum Jr. is leaving Grey’s Anatomy, so it seems safe to assume that Blue will be back when season 23 premieres in the fall.
What will be fun to see is how long Blue is without a job and working to get back to Grey Sloan. We’ve seen the show both resolve storylines, such as a doctor being fired quickly, and also draw them out for several episodes, so we’ll be curious to see which approach they take with Blue’s storyline.
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