Grey's Anatomy fans have had a lot to say about last week's shocking season 17 premiere. While most fans were thrilled, others expressed concerns regarding the show's mask use.
Camilla Luddington, who plays Jo on the long-running ABC medical series, responded Monday, Nov. 16 to a Twitter user who criticized the actress for "wasting PPE" by wearing a KN95 mask between takes, rather than a disposable mask. "If you see any of us wearing KN95s behind the scenes it's because we are wearing our costume masks," Luddington posted. "We don't also get an extra KN95 to wear between takes."
Earlier this year, the show's team earned praise for donating supplies amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Showrunner and executive producer Krista Vernoff told E! News in a statement in April that the series had donated a "backstock of gowns and gloves" to health-care workers on the front lines.
"We are all overwhelmed with gratitude for our healthcare workers during this incredibly difficult time," Vernoff said at the time, "and in addition to these donations, we are doing our part to help them by staying home."
Later, Vernoff told The Hollywood Reporter's TV's Top 5 podcast that production on Grey's could resume sooner than on other shows, due to the actors already wearing masks. "You can't be in a hospital without a mask right now," she said. "So that's actually gonna, I think, allow us to get back to work safely before some other shows can."
Jaws dropped during last week's buzzy premiere when Derek (Patrick Dempsey) visited Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) in a dream sequence. Luddington told E! News that she was one of few people on the show who had been informed ahead of time about Dempsey's first return since Derek's 2015 death. "I found out from Krista," she said. "I didn't know that some actors didn't know. I thought we all knew, but I guess we didn't."
Luddington was convinced that news of Dempsey's appearance would leak before the episode aired, and so she felt relieved that it didn't. As she added, "I'm so happy because it would have spoiled this amazing surprise for the fans."