Grey’s Anatomy Fans Are Heartbroken After Monica Beltran’s Death

Once again proving Grey Sloan Memorial’s penchant for disaster, a patient’s hostage plot led to an explosion in last season’s Grey’s Anatomy cliffhanger — and the Season 22 premiere revealed the catastrophic impact.

Spoilers ahead for Grey’s Anatomy Season 22, Episode 1, “Only the Strong Survive.”

The Death Of A Fan-Favorite Doctor

The Oct. 9 premiere began with a genuinely grisly scene — surveying the blood and fiery rubble before revealing that both Link and Monica Beltran were unconscious and pinned under debris in separate operating rooms.

Of the two surgeons, it seemed that Link was the most doomed. A piece of the ceiling had fallen directly on his chest — and as his fellow doctors struggled to care for him and control his bleeding, he told Jo on the phone to get a dog and where to find his password book. His status looked bleak, to say the least.

Monica, on the other hand, was trapped under OR equipment and suspected she had a shattered pelvis — but was otherwise able to calmly walk Jules Millin through a procedure on their young patient.

But then, a Grey’s twist: Link miraculously pulled through, while Monica died of internal bleeding before a rescue crew was able to get through the wreckage.

Viewers Are Heartbroken

Grey’s Anatomy fans were devastated by the twist, with some on X (formerly Twitter) reminded of Lexie’s death in the plane crash. Others were particularly worried about the death’s impact on Amelia, who had long-simmering feelings for the pediatric surgeon. Several connected their tragically severed relationship to Taylor Swift’s new Life of a Showgirl track “Ruin the Friendship,” in which the singer regrets not acting on feelings for a friend who later passed away.

And as one viewer wrote, “Do not expect me to ever get over this.”

So, why was Monica killed off? As Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Marinis told The Hollywood Reporter, she thought it would be impactful “to see someone die selflessly saving someone else’s life” — referring to both Jules and their patient on the table. “It really speaks to the kind of character Monica was.”

Marinis explained that at first, she didn’t want to kill any character — but ultimately, she realized that the fallout of the explosion was too big to ignore. “I said, ‘It’s going to be fine. We’re going to save everybody!’” she recalled. “And then I sat down in the writers room and I was like, ‘We can’t save everybody. We just can’t. It doesn’t have as much of an impact if everyone is saved.’”