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Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/a><\/em> is returning for Season 22 this fall on ABC, thus continuing its streak as the longest-running primetime medical drama on television. However, questions about how much longer the series will run have been continuing to surface in recent years, especially after it was scooted to the 10\/9c timeslot starting in Season 21. So, naturally, some fans are already starting to envision where the show might be heading for its eventual grand finale.<\/p>\n On Reddit<\/a>, one\u00a0Grey\u2019s<\/em> watcher offered up a theory about the ultimate ending of the show that is based on recent events \u2014 chiefly, the fact that Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo<\/a>) has devoted her professional life to finding a cure for Alzheimer\u2019s, the disease that claimed her mother\u2019s life.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it ever does end I think it\u2019s pretty obvious Meredith will get Alzheimer\u2019s while working on the cure and use it to cure herself. I think that\u2019s where it\u2019s headed personally,\u201d the original thread poster predicted.<\/p>\n Another user responded with a bit of disagreement, predicting, \u201cMeredith gets Alzheimer\u2019s just short of the cure or finishes it right as Alzheimer\u2019s hits hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet another user concured with the prediction that Meredith would become afflicted by the disease she\u2019s feared so well all season long and even conjured a specific scene in which that may play out, writing, \u201cI am imagining Meredith talking with someone and they mention how Derek would love to see how far she\u2019s come as a surgeon after doing x , y , z, legendary, groundbreaking, never before seen work. Then she says \u2018who is Derek?’\u201d<\/p>\n Another who agreed that Meredith getting Alzheimer\u2019s is the obvious direction the show is heading for had a similarly gulp-inducing vision for how that will look, writing, \u201cIt is my thinknig that in the last episode, the Alzheimer\u2019s causes Meredith to go back before she had Ellis and she is searching for Derek, which breaks Nick\u2019s heart.\u201d<\/p>\n At least one poster had a different theory about where the long-running Alzheimer\u2019s thread may be sewn up, turning to Ellis Grey\u2019s (Kate Burton<\/a>) other daughter Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary<\/a>), instead. The poster wrote, \u201cI do think Maggie is gonna get Alzheimer\u2019s and Meredith will discover a cure, maybe too late for Maggie but before Maggie dies, she gets the first dose. It will be unexpected since she most likely has the gene, too, from Ellis but the focus is so much on\u00a0Meredith<\/em> with Alzheimer\u2019s, it\u2019s gonna sneak attack.\u201d (It\u2019s worth noting, of course, that Maggie is no longer a regular character on\u00a0Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em> at this time, but she has popped back into the show on occasion.)<\/p>\n Meredith\u2019s fate wasn\u2019t the only subject of the thread, of course. Other predictions about the future of Grey\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>included a theory that Amelia Shepherd might eventually become chief of surgery, Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen<\/a>) could ultimately succumb to her cancer, and Teddy Altman (Kim Raver<\/a>) and Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd<\/a>) might perish in an accident.<\/p>\n One commenter had a much brighter vision of the future of\u00a0Grey\u2019s<\/em>, however, writing, \u201cBold of you to think this show is ever going to end. I swear Shonda [Rhimes\u2019] children are going to inherit the show after she dies.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019ll have to wait to find out what\u2019s ahead for Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em> when the show returns for Season 22 on October 9. Until then, what are your thoughts about how\u00a0Grey\u2019s<\/em> might end? Hit the comments below to weigh in on these theories and\/or offer your own!<\/p>\n