Grey's Anatomy's Season 11 was quite a rough one, being that many dramatic events happened. The most dramatic being the death of Dr. Derek, but there are rumors that Shonda Rhimes could be seeking to replace him for Season 12. This is what else that is known about Grey's Anatomy Season 12, Episode 1 Spoilers, Cast, and Premiere date.

According to Design and Trend, there could be a new doctor that could possibly replace Derek Shepherd. After the death of Patrick Dempsey's character last year, it would make sense. The show's creator, Shonda Rhimes, is seeking to replace Shepherd with some "name" actor in his late and 30s or early 40s who could play a surgeon. Someone has to replace the McDreamy guy with some other pretty face. Of course, will this doctor be a new love interest for Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo)?

Grey's Anatomy ended Season 11 with a lot of interesting storylines that will need to continue in Season 12. Many fans wanted to see what would happen to April and Jackson. As April wanted to go back overseas, Jackson said it would end the relationship. Entertainment Weekly has stated that the couple "haven't actually broken up" and "left on the precipice". No doubt there will be more of this story in Season 12.

Another plotline on the finale was Jo and Alex who finally said "I love you" to each other. As Jo and Alex are ready to settle down, it seems like an engagement might occur by the end of Season 12, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The big question is will Season 12 be the last season, but this is apparently not the case as it was revealed that Season 12 is "absolutely not" the last season of Grey's, even though the star Patrick Dempsey has died in the context of the show. Generally, a move like that tends to signal a near end to any television show. Still, at 12 seasons, it is pretty difficult to keep an audience, as only a few shows have passed the 10th season mark.

However, it is the end of Ellen Pompeo's contract. Is Meredith exiting the show? If so, then Zap2it predicts that this could be Meredith's "Alzheimer's season". Her character has allowed herself to be test for the Alzheimer's gene in Season 9, and ended up getting positive results for multiple genetic markers of the disease.

With Pompeo gone, that will definitely be the end of an era for the show, and it is a risk as there might be people who will inevitably complain that the show won't be as good and some who might just stop watching. Eventually, there will be a lot of new interns that will show up, and the show will go back to its roots of showing new doctors attempting to become a success once again.

Well, that would be a definite recalibration, and that seems to be the word for the show as popular characters played by Sandra Oh and Patrick Dempsey, which made the show so popular originally, have left. Grey's Anatomy cast member Jerrika Hinton even told Vibe magazine that there will be a lot of recalibrating, and Hinton will be tasked to manage the new interns of the Grey Sloan Memorial hospital.

So, it looks like Grey's Anatomy is headed in the ER direction where none of the original cast is still around by the time it was cancelled, but the element of young intern doctors will always be there. So far, there isn't any word on the actual air date of episode 1 of the premiere of Grey's Anatomy Season 12, but it should get interesting when it finally arrives on ABC sometime in the Fall of 2015.