Season 9 of Grey’s Anatomy will bring on many changes to Meredith’s life as a result of the plane crash the doctors of Seattle Grace were involved in. Not only in her personal life, but her professional one as well!

Meredith suffered a big blow at the end of season 8 when her half-sister, Lexie, died as a result of being injured during the plane crash. To add injury to insult, she missed the passing of her sister because she was searching for Derek who was also in the crash. Meredith is notorious for not knowing how to deal with her emotions normally, so how will she deal with this?

TV Line spoke with Shonda Rhimes who revealed that Meredith will come out a lot meaner than she was before the accident. Rhimes says Meredith is “a lot more no-nonsene” and as a result begins to take her job much more seriously. She won’t settle for less than perfect. This also means that she will be avoiding her feelings about Lexie until it comes to a breaking point where she finally allows herself to mourn the death of her sister.

Rhimes also revealed that this season she wants to bring back romance in a big way. It’s important to show that the couple has beat the odds despite everything that has been stacked against them. Rhimes explains “They basically settled down in a lot of ways. They are very settled. They’re married, they have a child, and they’re both working. I want to see what that means for them as a couple and how they, against the odds, manage to keep that relationship sexy and fun. So we’re playing with that and it’s been really fun.”

ABC also released this sneak peek image of Derek and Meredith showing a bit of the romance Rhimes spoke about. Are you glad to see that more romance will be incorporated into season 9?