Grey’s Anatomy has been no stranger to devastating patient stories, love triangles, and tragic deaths of main characters. The Grey’s universe does a good job of making all of the characters humane, with character flaws that make them relatable and frustrating to watch at times.
There have been a few characters introduced over the course of 17 seasons who were explicit villains. For example, Ellis Grey was an antagonist to Meredith in the first three seasons, and Gary Clark was the bad guy in the final episodes of season 6. Other characters have come and gone through Seattle as more low-key villains, with their actions not being as obviously evil, but still on the dark side.
Addison Montgomery
Addison Montgomery’s introduction in the season 1 finale is one of the most iconic moments on the show. Her appearance was a complete surprise, as was the reveal that she was married to Derek Shepherd the entire time he was seeing Meredith.
Addison was the villain in Meredith and Derek’s love story, but the whole situation was a lot more nuanced once viewers got more information. Addison and Derek’s marriage was far from perfect, but, for most of season 2, Addison was the thing keeping Derek from his true love, which made her the bad guy.
Penny Blake
Penny Blake didn’t mean to kill Derek Shepherd, but that didn’t change Meredith’s feelings about her. When she failed to push for a head CT, Meredith had to make the difficult decision to take her husband off of life support.
Penny was more of a villain to Meredith than to anyone else on the show, but viewers also turned against her when they lost one of their favorite characters in Derek Shepherd. Additionally, Penny went on to date Callie and move to New York with her, breaking the hearts of Callie and Arizona fans everywhere.
Sloan Riley
No one was more surprised than Mark Sloan himself to learn of his pregnant 18-year-old daughter in season 6. She arrived at Seattle Grace, begging for help as her mother had just kicked her out of the house, and she ended up wreaking havoc on Mark and Lexie’s relationship.
In addition to splitting up Slexie, Sloan wasn’t respectful of her very patient and present father. Having missed all of her life, Mark wanted to show up for Sloan. However, shortly after giving birth, she was seen to return to her mother’s and was never seen again. This was certainly something fans couldn’t get their heads around.
Lauren Boswell
Hilarie Burton’s Lauren Boswell was a craniofacial surgeon, who worked on a pediatrics case with Arizona Robbins in season 9. However, she was known as a villain during her brief time on the show.
She and Arizona were seen to flirt a lot, which eventually led to the pair sleeping together, putting a strain on Callie and Arizona’s relationship. While Arizona wasn’t innocent either, many fans believe Lauren was the reason Callie and Arizona couldn’t ever rebuild that trust back.
Nurse Rose
Nurse Rose and Derek Shepherd dated briefly in season 4, but she never stood a chance when compared to his history with Meredith Grey.
After many years of an on-and-off relationship, fans were tired of Meredith and Derek’s charades and attempts at romance with other people. Rose was seen as yet another annoying obstacle for the lovebirds, and was incredibly unprofessional and negligent with tools after her and Derek’s eventual breakup.
Robert Stark
Robert Stark was Arizona’s brief replacement when she went to Africa in season 7, and was disliked by pretty much every resident and intern that worked under him.
He refused to answer pages and was rude to everyone who wasn’t April Kepner. He eventually was unkind to her as well after she resisted his romantic advances, proving that he was just as bad as everyone thought he was. He was not missed at all when Arizona returned to pediatrics.
Tom Koracick
Amelia’s mentor, Tom Koracick, has been a polarizing doctor on Grey’s, with his deflective humor and blunt way of speaking.
He hasn’t always been the other surgeons’ favorite doctor because of his rigid personality and left fans divided when it was announced he was leaving the show. Additionally, he had an affair with Teddy while she was pregnant with Owen’s baby, further complicating a decades-long will-they-won’t-they romance between Teddy and Owen.
Eliza Minnick
Eliza Minnick appeared in season 13 of Grey’s, and the only upside to her appearance on the show was her brief relationship with Arizona Robbins, who made her slightly more likable.
Eliza was all work and no play, a stern rule follower, which almost cost the life of Stephanie Edwards. When an explosion occurred in the hospital, she neglected to let anyone know that Stephanie was missing. She was later fired for her negligence and further cemented her villain status when she left Arizona without so much as a goodbye.
Thatcher Grey
While Meredith’s mother, Ellis, was an obvious villain, her father Thatcher was a far more low-key one.
Thatcher didn’t do anything explicitly questionable at first until the death of his wife Susan, when he was seen to lash out against Meredith. His behavior toward Meredith was always harsh and cold, and he hardly kept in touch with her after Lexie died. Thatcher wasn’t the sole cause of Meredith’s family issues, but he definitely contributed and made things a lot worse in her life when all she needed was a good dad.
