It Still Stings: Andrew DeLuca’s Brutal Death on Grey’s Anatomy

Editor’s Note: TV moves on, but we haven’t. In our feature series It Still Stings, we relive emotional TV moments that we just can’t get over. You know the ones, where months, years, or even decades later, it still provokes a reaction? We’re here for you. We rant because we love. Or, once loved. And obviously, when discussing finales in particular, there will be spoilers:

Grey’s Anatomy is known for its dramatic storylines, and probably even more notorious for its frequent character deaths. Before I even watched the show, I recall multiple people in my life mourning the loss of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), so I expected to cry more than once when I finally decided to binge it. When I finally caught up with its 16th season, it turned out to be an eventful stretch for many of my favorite characters—and not in a good way.

During Season 16, it became clear that something was not right with Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti). Between Episodes 13 and 18, he begins displaying concerning and unsettling symptoms, and by the end of the five-episode run, everything finally explodes. A patient named Cindy Wright comes into Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital with her aunt Opal by her side, and every time Andrew tries to ask Cindy a question, Opal insists on answering for her, even after he says that he’s specifically asking Cindy. He suspects something is wrong and comes to the conclusion that the girl fits the profile for human trafficking. The problem is, because of his recent behavior, Miranda (Chandra Wilson) is not convinced, but he’s not ready to give up. 

Once they’re away from Opal, he questions the patient, promising she can talk to him, and that he will keep her safe. Shortly after, a code violet goes off, causing Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) to rush over and discover Andrew yelling at Opal and calling for security to arrest her. Miranda, Richard (James Pickens Jr.), and Andrew’s sister Carina (Stefania Spampinato) are all trying to calm him down as he’s begging them to enact protective protocol for this patient. But instead of surrounding this suspicious woman, they corner Andrew, and Miranda orders security to take him to her office.

Meredith manages to convince him not to quit his job, but he insists that Miranda calls the national trafficking hotline to investigate the situation, saying that’s the only way he’ll accept the suspension. As Cindy and Opal leave the hospital, it becomes clear that Andrew was right as Opal roughly grabs her and questions what the girl said to the doctor. It’s an infuriating watch, as the suspension and this senseless violence towards this girl could have been avoided if someone would have just listened to Andrew from the beginning.

The Season 17 premiere reveals that the girl did return alone after Opal dropped her on the side of the interstate, asking for Andrew, and (despite not being in the right place mentally to handle this) he pushes his own anguish aside to help his patient. It’s vindicating to learn the patient’s real name (Erin Banks), and to see Andrew’s persistence finally pay off. But this satisfaction doesn’t last for long, as Opal returns in Episode 6, and this time, Andrew refuses to let her get away. However, before Andrew can rush off alone, Carina finds him, and insists they go after this woman together. This storyline eventually leads into ABC’s midseason premieres of both Station 19 and Grey’s, stretching the following events across a crossover rather than keeping Andrew’s storyline anchored to his own series. 

Now, this crossover is not even necessarily the problem; it’s always nice to see these characters jump between the two shows, and seeing the siblings together again is always a welcome development after Carina’s move to the spinoff in 2020. The problem is that Andrew gets stabbed on Station 19. So when Grey’s Anatomy fans tuned in for the midseason premiere, they were met with Ben (Jason Winston George), Carina, and Maya (Danielle Savre) hovering around Andrew in an ambulance, rushing him to Grey Sloan. What fans of Grey’s didn’t see was that the siblings followed Opal, with Ben hot in pursuit to meet them with the police, as Andrew chased Opal through a train station in an effort to not lose her again. But instead of catching her, a man roughly bumps into Andrew. While Opal is ultimately arrested, we later discover that the man actually stabbed Andrew, and Carina finds him there in the station, bleeding out. 

He is rushed to Grey Sloan, and in the madness, we see him on the beach with Meredith, which viewers know is never a good sign. However, Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy (Kim Raver) operate and everything seems to go smoothly—shocking, right? Carina tells him that Opal and the man who stabbed him have been arrested, meaning it’s all over, and he’s a hero. But we all know the truth: nothing is ever that simple on Grey’s Anatomy. So when the monitor starts beeping rapidly and Owen announces that Andrew is tachycardic and his CVP’s going up, fans know what’s coming. They open him back up, and it just goes downhill from there. He went into DIC and is bleeding out by the time Teddy reaches the operating room. 

While he’s on the operating table, we once again see him on the beach, telling Meredith that he’s trying to beat the tide because he has more plans and things to do. But it doesn’t matter because it’s coming in too fast, sweeping away his sandcastle and all those best-laid plans in its wake. While watching the sunset on the dock, Andrew’s deceased mother appears and starts to yell for him. Meredith says that she’ll miss him, and after promising that she’ll be alright, Andrew realizes that he has to go. He runs to his mother, hugging her tightly, and that’s when we know this is the end. There’s no miracle save here.

This ending was in no way necessary, and felt like a cheap and sudden end to a much larger storyline. Opal isn’t even the one to stab Andrew, removing her from direct involvement in his death; there isn’t even a big confrontation. And the worst part is that Andrew never saw Opal get arrested; he never saw how his persistence and care actually made a tangible difference in the world because he paid the ultimate price for his kindness. While the writers allow him to reunite with his mother in an effort to sugarcoat the ending, that does not change the fact that Andrew did not need to die right as he was getting his life back on track. 

It’s a cruel ending for a character that suffered so much, but put in incredible work to better both himself and the world around him. This storyline easily could have been a well-done plot tackling both mental health and sex trafficking. Gianniotti gave a moving and accurate portrayal of Bipolar disorder, which is a true rarity on TV, and I can’t help but think about how rewarding it would have been for him to not only have his hero moment with this storyline, but to come out on the other side of it better. The shock value death for a beloved character trope will always be the wrong ending, especially when a show uses it too much. It will only make audiences hesitate to keep getting invested in your characters, creating a slew of wounds for viewers that still sting years later. 

Sophia Soto is a writer and interviewer with a passion for all things entertainment. She is currently a Senior Reporter for The Nerds of Color. Additionally, you can also see her work on Den of Geek, What to Watch, Paste Magazine, Remezcla, Young Hollywood, Looper, and more. Connect with her over on X (@srsoto26) and Instagram (@srsoto264).

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