Claim: Grey's Anatomy is a program with more than one episode.

The twelfth season of the American television medical drama Grey 's Anatomy was ordered on May 7 , 2015 , by ABC . It premiered on September 24 , 2015 , in the United States on ABC . The twelfth season includes the show 's 250th episode , Guess Who 's Coming to Dinner , which is the fifth episode in the season . The season is produced by ABC Studios , in association with ShondaLand Production Company and The Mark Gordon Company ; the showrunner being Shonda Rhimes . The season commenced airing with the episode `` Sledgehammer '' and concluded with `` Family Affair '' .   This season was the first not to feature Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd following the death of the character at the end of the eleventh season . On June 5 , 2015 ABC announced that Jason George has been promoted to series regular status after having performed a recurring role as Dr. Ben Warren since the sixth season of the medical drama . Part way into the season Martin Henderson was introduced as new regular character , Dr. Nathan Riggs . In the tenth episode of the season Giacomo Gianniotti was also promoted to series regular status as intern Andrew DeLuca .   The season , garnered 11.21 million average viewers and was ranked 21st overall in total viewers which is fifteen spots higher than the previous season . TV critics and analysts noted the renewed interest in viewership with Rich Kissell of Variety calling it a ` renaissance . ' Grey 's Anatomy finished the 2015 -- 16 television season as ABC 's highest-rated drama in the 18-49 demographics and also ranked among the top five dramas on all of broadcast , averaging a 3.9 rating in the demo , an unprecedented accomplishment for a show in its 12th season . On March 3 , 2016 , the network renewed Grey 's Anatomy for a thirteenth season .