The Grey’s Anatomy (2005- ) franchise has an upcoming spinoff set in West Texas, originally filmed in Los Angeles, but has instead been planned to shoot in Albuquerque, New Mexico after California tax credit application was rejected twice. According to Deadline, ABC and studio 20th Television will wait for positive resolution after the CA tax incentive system.
For the past 23 years, the franchise has left California for the first time to a new filming location for the pre-production of the unnamed spinoff series. The description of the show is said to be an edgy drama in a rural medical center. After navigating for California’s tax credit, the Shondaland series, created by creator Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal) and current showrunner Meg Marinis (Grey’s Anatomy), will no longer premiere midseason of 2027, pushing to 2027-28 season.
The company’s series has a history of filming on Washington DC-sets for ABC’s Scandal (2012-2018) and Netflix’s The Residence (2025) and Philadelphia-sets for ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder (2014-2020). Grey’s Anatomy had previous spinoffs like Private Practice (2007-2013) and Station 19 (2018-2024) that are Seattle-set. California’s Film & TV Tax Credit program has an annual amount of $750 million that cooperated production in Hollywood to relocating its series.
Executive producer Betsy Beers (The Residence, Bridgerton), who is Rhimes’ longtime producing partner at Shondaland, shared the experience on the spinoff when testifying for an Assembly Committee hearing in Hollywood last week. They went over the limitations on the state’s film and television tax credit system to review criteria used in award credits and increase money pool.
Beers said about the tax credits: “So when our great partners at ABC applied for the new tax credits this past summer for our new Grey’s Anatomy spinoff set in West Texas, we assumed there’s a long history of loyalty to the state, fighting to stay here when there were no credits to be had, and the fact the odds were – as they had been with every single show that Shonda has created or co-created – there would be at least six seasons for a wonderful crew and staff to keep working and to sleep in their beds at night. It was also crucial since the co-creator and showrunner is also running Grey’s, and the geographical proximity was key to her ability to doing the job.”
He continues: “How wrong we were! We were denied credit due to the fact we were not providing enough jobs for the state to consider us an asset. None of our past history or track record were taken into consideration.”
ABC and the studio had decided to apply again, which has led to postponing prep.
