The Best Grey’s Anatomy Intern Moments Ahead Of Season 19

When Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 returns on Oct. 6, expect things to look a little different. Yes, Meredith and all of your faves will still be at Grey Sloan, but so will a group of brand-new interns, part of the hospital’s efforts to rebuild its residency program. Of course, if you’ve been keeping up with Grey’s Anatomy for this long, you know that interns tend to bring a little chaos — in and out of the OR.

As viewers wait to learn more about the new Grey’s Anatomy interns — Benson “Blue” Kwan, Jules Millin, Simone Griffith, Lucas Adams, and Mika Yasuda — here’s a look back at some of the most memorable intern moments on the show so far.

Season 1, Episode 1: MAGIC Meets For The First Time

Few TV shows nail their pilot episode quite like Grey’s Anatomy. “A Hard Day’s Night” set the tone for the show’s steamy blend of personal and professional drama and introduced two of its most foundational relationships — yes, Meredith and Derek, but also Meredith and Cristina and the rest of the MAGIC squad (Meredith, Alex, George, Izzie, and Cristina). Revisiting the group’s early encounters is like a comforting blanket, especially since we only have one member of the Day 1 squad left on Grey’s.

Season 2, Episodes 26 & 27: The LVAD Wire

Our surgeons went through a lot during their intern year. One of the most chaotic moments happened at the end of Season 2 when Izzie decided to take Denny’s fate into her own hands by cutting his LVAD wire and made accessories of all her friends in the process.

The high-stakes two-parter isn’t just a thrill to watch — it also set a major precedent for how far the original interns were willing to go for each other, and how the surgeons' and patients’ lives could intertwine to disastrous results.

Season 5, Episode 9: The Intern Cabal

It’s hard to say what’s messier as an intern: damaging lifesaving medical equipment to get your boyfriend a new heart or cutting into your perfectly healthy friends for practice? Either way, Sadie and Lexie’s intern class lived up to its predecessor in a major way with its secret surgery club.

Season 9, Episode 1: A New Generation

No intern class stirred things up quite like the Season 9 newbies: Jo, Stephanie, Shane, Leah, and Heather. Not only did they all hook up with their attendings at some point — sometimes doing much more than just hook up (RIP, Jolex) — but their arrival also marked a significant shift in Grey’s history. For the first time, we saw MAGIC (well, MAC) from the perspective of new interns with their own complex, messy lives. Seeing Jo and Stephanie call Meredith “Medusa” while “Portions for Foxes” plays in the background? A very fun callback to the pilot episode when Mer and co.’s biggest worry was getting on the bad side of the “Nazi.”

Season 11, Episode 24: DeLuca, The Undercover Intern

Remember when DeLuca showed up at Grey Sloan mere episodes after Derek passed away with enough charm, confidence, and gorgeous hair to make viewers think he was McDreamy 2.0? Alas, DeLuca was actually just a baby surgical intern on his way to work when he witnessed an accident and decided to step in (which was very Derek of him).

DeLuca’s fake-it-‘til-you-make-it approach to his first day was hilarious to watch, but it takes on a deeper meaning in hindsight. Knowing DeLuca’s tragic fate, it’s beautiful to remember that he came into our lives as he left it — saving the day, if by less-than-conventional means.

Season 14, Episode 1: Glasses Is Born

Levi was technically still a fourth-year med school student (a “sub-intern”) when he made his debut at Grey Sloan Memorial — and what a debut it was. After dropping his spectacles into a patient’s body during surgery, he would go on to earn the nickname “Glasses,” following in the tradition of Grey’s monikers that reflect epic surgery fails à la George’s “007.”

Adorably, Levi’s first episode also saw him befriend Jo — putting him on the path of becoming one of the show’s most beloved interns in recent memory.