Ellen Pompeo Might Leave ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ After S16 & Who’ll Be My Person Now?

Ellen Pompeo aka the Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy aka the character that gives the Shonda Rhimes‘ show its clever title has heavily implied to Entertainment Weekly that she might not return after season 16.

Alright, *deep breath* here goes:

I’m clearly not prepared right now to make any formal announcement about my future on the show.

But I’m feeling like we have told the majority of the stories that we can tell.

I’m feeling like we’re coming to the end of the stories that we’ve told and that we can tell. I’m really excited to do some new things, it’s about time that I mix it up and I’m really excited about my producing career, and I’m definitely looking for a change.

I have definitely played this out for everything that I possibly could. I’ve given it 200 percent of my energy and my love and my time and my commitment and my dedication. I still am fighting every day to make everything surrounding this show, the quality of the show, the storytelling, I’m still fighting for everything I can, for the quality to be good, for the actors to be happy, whether that’s well received or not.

I still care very much about the show and I think that it takes a lot of energy. So at some point I have to wrap it up.

In her answer she also kinda nudges at the idea that she’s come full circle; working with a former executive producer, Krista Vernoff again on the new season “feels really appropriate“. And she says “it’s definitely time for a change in my life“, as her first child approaches her teens.

Now luckily, if you too have not managed to separate yourself from Seattle Grace/Seattle Grace Mercy West/Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, it is only season 15 that is starting up with a two-hour premiere in the US at the end of this week.

That means we’ve got a couple more seasons of Mer’s “dark and cloudy” vibe, before we might need to say goodbye to the series’ central character, who has to be suffering from some really severe PTSD at this point after all the shit she’s been through:  I mean Derek‘s death alone fucked me up for days and he’s just a really handsome fictional character.

As one of FOUR – plus Karev, Bailey and Webber – of the show’s original stars, the loss of Pompeo would be a massive hit. Who knows if the show itself could even withstand it, and it’s hard to tell up there if she’s speaking generally about Grey’s, the show, running out of stories, or about Grey, the character, having been through enough already.

But for now we’ve got Meredith/Pompeo, thanks in no small part part to the $20-odd-million salary for seasons 15 and 16 that makes her the highest paid actress on a US drama.

Grey’s Anatomy, the longest running US primetime drama EVER, returns for season 15 on September 27 – and will get to Channel 7 whenever they damn well feel like it. All your faves return – except Arizona and April – plus a new ‘Ortho God’ played by Luke from The O.C., Chris Carmack; and the show’s first gay male surgeon, Dr. Nico Kim, played by Alex Landi.

Whatever happens, we’ll just dance it out/watch with our forever person, pizza.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV