Former Red Rock star Richard Flood has joined Grey’s Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy have announced the casting of the 'new Alex Karev'.

According to TV Line, Richard Flood is going to be checking into Grey Sloan Memorial as Dr. Cormac Hayes, the hospital's new head of Pediatric Surgery. He will be joining the long-running medical drama in a recurring role. The Dubliner previous appeared on Shameless as Ford Kellogg, as well as TV3's Red Rock as Garda Supt. James McKay. Spoilers for Grey's Anatomy season 16 lie below this photo.  Hayes will arrive at the hospital in the wake of Karev's firing from Grey Sloan Memorial at the end of last season. Since then, he has moved to Pacific Northwest General Hospital - where Dr. Richard Webber is also now working, after he also got fired from Grey Sloan. According to the publication, his first episode will be airing later this season. The casting announcement comes as show runner Krista Vernoff recently opened about about the "biggest challenge" of season 16. She told Entertainment Tonight:

"I'm always looking to keep the show fresh and alive. That is a complicated challenge, 16 seasons and over 300 episodes in. "The biggest challenge was figuring out how we were going to follow through on the firings. "Having Bailey fire Richard and Alex and Meredith -- one of the originals firing the other three originals was a pretty bold move and we wanted to make sure that we played it through with real consequences and dramatic stakes, and I think we've done that successfully."

Photo via IMDB.