Between tragic character deaths and untimely departures,  has conditioned its fans to roll with the punches over the years. So, when we get actual good news, it feels gratifying — as though our patience and loyalty (read: countless nights of ugly-crying on the couch) is finally paying off. Well, this is one of those days, friends. According to  showrunner Stacy McKee, the firefighter spinoff could very well include many more crossover cameos from our favorite faces at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Shondaland introduced the fiery new series on Thursday, further exploring Ben Warren’s decision to pursue his passion by giving up surgery to run into burning buildings. In addition to Ben’s backstory in recent episodes,  cued up  by introducing the female lead, Andy Herrera (played by ‘s Jaina Lee Ortiz).

Then, during ‘s two-hour premiere, both Meredith and Bailey made crossover cameos. Naturally, this fosters a sense of excitement and expectancy among fans.

Can we expect regular crossovers? Which  characters could make appearances?

McKee gave a promising answer during  when asked whether April’s ex, a paramedic named Matthew, would play a larger role in the spinoff.

“I’m open to any and all cross-pollination of that nature,” McKee said. “Matthew was incredible, paramedic Nicole [played by Nicole Cummins] has always been exciting. There are so many of those characters that have popped into the 

 universe. I’ve been there for all of them; I was on  for every season. I have all of those on my radar. You never know when you might see them.”

While McKee played a little coy there, she makes the connection between the two shows even more clear further into the interview, saying, “I wanted this to work as a companion piece — to be a happy sibling to  — because it’s supposed to be a spinoff and they’re supposed to work hand-in-hand.”

So, not only do we get to see more of our beloved 

cast, but we also get to see them interacting with new and intriguing characters. Luck may be on our side this year (you know, aside from losing both April and Arizona).

If we had our druthers, here are five  favorites we’d like to get an extra dose of during .

Jo

Now that Jo can finally breathe without worrying about her abusive ex, we want to see more of her! She and Alex are on steady footing now, and her career is going great.

It would be nice to see her take point on some of the potential patients being brought in by Station 19.

Alex

Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to squeeze in more Alex time each week? Since he is always so invested in his pediatric patients, we can easily see an arc involving a young burn patient.

April

OK, so fine, whatever… they say Sarah Drew is leaving (we’re not pouting, ). But what if the big surprise here is that April is leaving the show to join ? She left the hospital the first time she suffered a crisis of faith, so this isn’t that big of a stretch.

Owen

Owen’s military training already puts him at an advantage when it comes to thinking on the fly and being creative in the field. Maybe Ben will rope him into helping out as soon as an ambulance pulls into the bay.

Stephanie

You’re probably thinking, “But wait, didn’t Stephanie leave the show?” And you’d be right.

She’s currently starring in the HBO series . Still, she’ll undoubtedly have downtime between seasons, and it’s not like she can’t return to . She wasn’t killed off; rather, she chose to leave after staying in a burning building to save a young patient. See? Plenty of doctor/firefighter crossover potential there.