Chyler Leigh (a.k.a. Lexie Grey) Is Returning to ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ and Fans Are So Excited

Grey’s Anatomy has always found ways to include deceased characters (Izzie hallucinating Denny, anyone?), but with Meredith under sedation as she battles COVID—hanging somewhere between life and death on a sunny beach—this season has been jam-packed with cameos from the beyond. And the next dearly departed fan favorite to come back will be Meredith’s half-sister, Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), who died in a tragic plane crash alongside her true love, Mark Sloan, at the end of season eight.

In a new promo–set to Anna Nalick’s “2 AM (Breathe),” one of the most Grey’s Anatomy songs of all time–fans will finally see the “beach guest” they’ve been “waiting for,” a long-haired Lexie giggling as she hands her half-sister a towel. As the Grey girls sit together looking out at the water, Meredith remarks that she “like[s] it here” on the beach, prompting Lexie to ask, “Are you gonna stay?”

This isn’t the first time Lexie has made a postmortem appearance; viewers saw her ghostly apparition in a season 15 episode. Leigh, meanwhile, has played Alex Danvers on Supergirl and The CW’s other DC superhero shows since 2015.

Fans, naturally, are hype:

Earlier this month showrunner Krista Vernoff explained the meaning of the beach to The Hollywood Reporter, saying the writers intentionally kept it kind of vague. “We’ve carefully designed that beach so that whatever your belief system is, that beach fits into it,” she said. “For me, that is a real place that exists in between; it’’s an in-between place where Meredith can hang out and the dead people she loves can visit her. That’s where it started. But not everybody believes in a life beyond this body.”

But please remember: No matter what you believe, you can’t jump the track—we’re like cars on a cable. And life’s like an hourglass glued to the table. Those are the facts.