Grey's Anatomy. Scandal, Murder: 9 spoilers

The creative minds behind ABC’s hottest night of TV—fondly referred to as TGIT—offered up some rare scoop on the upcoming seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder at the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual press tour on Tuesday. Without further ado:

1. Grey’s will have a lighter tone this year as the season’s theme is rebirth. The show is also jumping ahead three months.

2. How to Get Away with Murder won’t always include murder. “I think the premise of the show for me is that things get more and more complicated, whether or not that means a murder each season, there’s going to be a mystery,” executive producer Pete Nowalk said.

3. Meredith is single, but not ready to mingle. Also, she’s got some new roomies. “We do have this world in which Meredith is single, and she is living this life that she’s never thought she’d be living again,” Shonda Rhimes said. “She’s living in a house with her sisters. There’s a lot of single women right now. She’s surrounded by women who are dating and having a whole life. She’s not interested in all that. She’s pondering, ‘Is there a second life there or are the best years behind you?'”

4. Scandal is picking up pretty much where the show left off. “The world had been fairly blown apart for everybody except Olivia and Fitz,” Rhimes said. “Everybody else was in a fairly blown apart place… We pick up right there in that environment and we see what’s happens next.”

5. Despite Jackson giving her an ultimatum on Grey’s Anatomy, April did re-enlist, Rhimes said.

6. Fitz may consider separating from Mellie on Scandal. “For me, what’s exciting is exploring the possibility of really seeing what happens next versus doing the thing I think everyone expects us to do, which is bounce everybody back into the place that they were,” Rhimes said.

7. Martin Henderson won’t make his Grey’s Anatomy debut until around midway through the season. “I don’t even know what I’m doing yet with that,” Rhimes said of his character. “I mean honestly, I don’t know.” But she does say he’s not replacing McDreamy. “That’s not really the point. Meredith’s on a journey, Meredith’s always been on a journey, and I’m taking her where the journey leads her, so we’ll see what that feels like.”

8. Annalise has a big season ahead of her on Murder. “The big question for Annalise starting this season, about a week after we left off, is ‘What has she wrought?'” Nowalk said. “Other big thing really focused on is we’re going to reveal a lot more about their backstories, how they met each other, what dark, twisted things happen to them in the past which now made them the people in the present. That’s what we’re super excited about in the writers’ rooms, is coming up with fresh, new storylines for these people that you think you know at this point in the show but you don’t know them at all.”

9. Callie and Arizona might be moving on. “Definitely some new romances for them this season, and some pretty exciting ones, too, which I think are going to be kind of interesting,” Rhimes said.

Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder return Sept. 24.

See EW’s complete coverage of TCA.