As Grey’s Anatomy Braces for a Mass Exodus, a Look Back at How the Series Has Handled Past Exits - Greysanatomy Fans (2024)

Final Airdate:TBD

Reason for Exit:Our sister siteDeadlinesuggests thatGrey’s Anatomy’s Season 21 renewal was predicated on budget cuts —cuts that may have taken a scalpel to the groundbreaking character that Borelli had played for the past seven seasons. (Back in Season 15, Levi’s kiss with Alex Landi’s Nico Kim was the first between two male doctors at the hospital.)

How He Left:Given Schmitt’s keen interest in a peds fellowship, he is likely to depart from Grey Sloan and Seattle to pursue that goal. But we won’t find out for sure until Season 21; Borelli is reportedly in negotiations to continue on until Levi’s story can be sutured up.

Final Airdate:May 17, 2018

Reason for Exit:The decision to pink-slip Capshaw along with Sarah Drew as Season 14 neared its conclusion “was a creative one,”insisted showrunner Krista Vernoff, adding that “the only thing as constant onGrey’sas Ellen Pompeo is our penchant for reinvention.”

How She Left: Raising “Calzona” fans’ hopes for a reunion —if only off screen — the erstwhile Roller Girl followed her ex Callie’s tracks to New York to open the Robbins-Herman Center for Women’s Health with former mentor Nicole.

Final Airdate:March 5, 2020

Reason for Exit:Two months after his last appearance on the show, Chambers issued a statement in which he revealed that “for some time…I have hoped to diversify my acting rolesand career choices… Now is that time.”

How He Left:After telling bride Jo that he was going to care for his ailing mother — and never returning — Alex sent not only her but Meredith, Richard and Bailey letters explaining thathe’d actually reunited with old flame Izzie, who since leaving Seattle had settled in Kansas with their children. Yes,children!

Final Airdate:May 15, 2014

Reason for Exit:Introduced in Season 9 as an ambitious new intern, theFriday Night Lightsgrad was promoted to series regular the following season and then…altogether dropped.

How He Left:Shane implored mentor and onetime lover Cristina to take him with her when she left to revolutionize medicine in Zurich — and she did.

Final Airdate:Oct. 4, 2012

Reason for Exit:Back then, Shonda Rhimes said in a statement that “after much discussion and conversations, [Dane] and I have decided that this is the right time for his storyline to end.” Shortly thereafter, the actor set sail on TNT’sThe Last Ship. “I would’ve done [Grey’s] until the final episode,” he toldEntertainment Weekly, “but this was something I couldn’t pass up.”

How He Left:Though Mark survived the plane crash that ended Season 8, he didn’t survive for long.McSteamy succumbed to his injuries shortly after Season 9 began, in a way — a reallytragic way! — reuniting him with his late true love, Lexie.

Final Airdate:May 14, 2015

Reason for Exit:Shonda Rhimes said it“wasn’t easy or fun” reaching the decision to part ways with Dempsey after 11 seasons —andwhile he still had a season left on his contract. But, as the actor toldPeople.com, “it was time for me to move on with other things and other interests. I stayed a bit longer than I should have.”

How He Left:In the April 23, 2015, episode, “How to Save a Life,” Derek treated victims of a car accident at the site of the wreck, only to have his own vehicle slammed by a semi. The shoddy medical care that he received at nearby Dillard Medical Centerleft him brain-dead before Meredith could even arrive on the scene.

Final Airdate:May 17, 2018

Reason for Exit:When Drew was axed with Jessica Capshaw at the end of Season 14, showrunner Krista Vernoff made it clear that their dismissalshad nothing to do with castmate Ellen Pompeo’s raise;the suggestion “is wrong and hurtful,” she tweeted. Rather, the changes to the series’ lineup were creatively dictated. “And that,” Vernoff added, “is the whole story.” Well, aside from the fact that Drew didn’t seem to see it coming. “I know you’re sad,” she tweeted to her fans. “I’m sad, too.”

How She Left:When Alex and Jo’s planned nuptials went off the rails in Season 14’s finale,April and ex-fiancé Matthew stepped in, got married in their place.and took up residence in a part of Seattle that was never shown onGrey’s Anatomy. Three seasons later, April agreed to move with her and former husband Jackson’s daughter Harriet to Boston, where a happy new beginning awaited.

Final Airdate:March 3, 2022

Reason for Exit:“Having three years on the show felt right for me,” the actor toldDeadline, “and I think that the arc of the character with all the developments in the story was probably coming to its natural end… I was very happy that everybody felt the same.”

How He Left:After Owen confessed in Season 18 that he’d been helping terminally ill veterans end their lives, Cormac packed up his sons and left Seattle rather than risk losing his medical license over his accidental complicity in his colleague’s well-intentioned crime.

Final Airdate:TBD

Reason for Exit:After only two seasons at Grey Sloan, theSex Lives of College Girlsvet was eager to broaden her horizons, per our sister siteDeadline. So she andGrey’s Anatomyreached what was said to be “an amicable decision” to allow her to scrub out.

How She Left:We won’t find out until Season 21, when Francis is expected to return, however briefly, to wrap up Mika’s storyline.

Final Airdate:May 17, 2018

Reason for Exit:Though the actor continued to guest-star onGrey’s Anatomyas Bailey’s husband, he had been tapped to entice the series’ fans to first-responders spinoffStation 19.At first, though, as he toldGetting Grilled With Curtis Stone, he feared the call that he received from Shonda Rhimes was going to be along the lines of “‘Sorry, we’re going to kill Ben off this season.’…[When] they were like, ‘How would you feel about Ben going over to this new show?’ I was like, ‘Are you offering me another job? I could roll with that.’”

How He Left:For seven seasons, Ben traded his lab coat for a firehose onGrey’ssecond offshoot. But with the cancellation ofStation 19, George was set toreturn his character to Grey Sloan to finish out his surgical residency.

Final Airdate:May 20, 2021

Reason for Exit:Beats the hell out of us. In announcing to our sister site Deadline that the actor wouldn’t be returning as a series regular in Season 18, showrunner Krista Vernoff called him“a comic genius”who would be missed “terribly in the day to day — but we plan to see Tom Koracick again!”

How He Left: After watching roommate of color after roommate of color succumb to COVID during his hospital stay, Tom decided that he wanted to become worthy of having been spared the same fate. So he joined Jackson in relocating to Boston to, in essence, change the world for the better.

Final Airdate: March 11, 2021

Reason for Exit: Inspiration,EP Krista Vernoff told TVLine. When she began brainstorming Season 17 stories, “this one was the first and most powerful one that came to my mind sort of wholly realized. I knew… why we had to do it,” however reluctantly.

How He Left: While pursuing sex trafficker Opal, DeLuca was stabbed by one of her accomplices. Later,he succumbed to his injuries at Grey Sloan — and was reunited with his late mother on Meredith’s limbo beach between life and death.

Final Airdate:Jan. 21, 2010

Reason for Exit:With her movie career on the upswing, the 2008 Emmy winner declined to submit herself for consideration the following year because “I did not feel,” she said in a statement, “that I was given the material this season to warrant a… nomination.” The dis did not go unnoticed by Shonda Rhimes, who shared onOprah’s Next Chapterthat “on some level, [Heigl’s remark] stung, and on some level, I was not surprised.” Ultimately,the actress asked to be released 18 months early from her contract to spend more time with her family.

How She Left: When husband Alex refused to let Izzie take back the Dear John letter she’d written when she believed he was responsible for her firing, she declined a chance to scrub back in and left Seattle to start over.

Final Airdate:Oct. 26, 2017

Reason for Exit:After Patrick Dempsey’s Derek was killed off, “I couldn’t believe how fast the studio and the network felt like they had to get a penis in there,” Ellen Pompeo toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “We brought in Martin Henderson, but they didn’t love the storyline, so that ended.” At least Henderson wasn’t blindsided. He “only had a short-term contract,” he told our sister siteDeadline. “This [was] my final year, so I was expecting Nathan’s storyline to be wrapped up.”

How He Left: The resurrection of Riggs’ lost love — and Owen’s sister — Megan drove the final nail into the coffin of his budding romance with Mer. Early on in Season 14, Nathan and Megan not only reunited but moved to Malibu with her son Farouk.

Final Airdate:May 18, 2017

Reason for Exit:Three words —Here and Now. When Hinton landed a role on Alan Ball’s short-lived HBO series, she asked to be released from herGrey’scontract. “And when an actor like Jerrika comes to me and says she wants to try something new,” Shonda Rhimes said in a statement,“creatively, I like to honor that.”

How She Left: After nearly going up in smoke in the Grey Sloan blaze that ended Season 13, Stephanie quit not only her job but medicine altogether. “I need to travel and… explore… and hike… and breathe,” she told Richard, “away from the monitors and the blood.”

Final Airdate:May 14, 2009

Reason for Exit:After the Season 3 incident with Isaiah Washington that led to Knight’s public coming-out, George, his portrayer toldEntertainment Weeklyin 2009, “just kind of disappeared.” So the actor asked to be let out of his contract — with no discussion whatsoever about his character’s fate. “My five-year experience,” he said, “proved to me that I could not trust any answer that was given” about George.

How He Left: No sooner had George suddenly decided to join the Army than he was disfigured playing hero to save a woman from being hit by a bus. By the time Meredith realized who her John Doe patient was, he was as good as dead.

Final Airdate:March 2, 2023

Reason for Exit:None was given…although it wouldn’t be hard to make a case for the fact that Nico and Levi’s once-sweet and sexy romance had turned terribly toxic.

How He Left:Following “Schmico’s” breakup, Nico exited Grey Sloan to pick up where Link left off working for the Seattle Mariners. In Season 20, we learned that he and his new partner were starting a family via a surrogate.

Final Airdate:May 17, 2012

Reason for Exit:As if to brace viewers for her imminent departure,Leigh sat out the start of Season 8to enjoy the extended summer hiatus she’d been granted to spend more time with her family. Later, she revealed that “earlier this year, I made the decision that Season 8 would be my last” and thatshe’d worked with Shonda Rhimes “to give Lexie’s story appropriate closure.”

How She Left: If by “appropriate,” she meant “heartrending,” they sure nailed it. While imagining a future with soulmate Mark that would never come to pass, Lexie succumbed to injuries sustained in Season 8’s legendary plane crash.

Final Airdate:Sept. 26, 2013

Reason for Exit:Majorino was already attached to TNT’sLegendswhen she began recurring as the intern that Cristina dubbed Mousey. When the spy drama was picked up, the actress was shipped out.

How She Left:Though Season 9’s finale left Richard lying face down in a pool of water after he was electrocuted in the hospital’s boiler room, it was actuallyHeather who wound up dying from the shock she got running to his rescue in Season 10’s premiere.

Final Airdate:April 13, 2023

Reason for Exit:After nine seasons as Richard and Ellis’ surprise daughter, McCreary was eager to explore other options, reported our sister siteDeadline.

How She Left: After a partial heart transplant made Maggie an extra hot commodity, she left behind Seattle and husband Winston to accept a job offer from the Heart Center of Chicago.

Final Airdate:May 15, 2014

Reason for Exit:After 10 seasons, Oh toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat “creatively, I really feel like I gave it my all, and I feel ready to let [Cristina] go… [I] actually get the sense thatshewants to be let go as well.”

How She Left:To give Cristina “that full-circle moment we need,”Shonda Rhimes brought back Isaiah Washington as Yang’s ex-fiancé Burke and had him hire her to run the fancypants Klausman Institute for Medical Research in Zurich. Thankfully, her presence is still occasionally felt in Seattle; in Season 16, for instance, she sent Meredith sexy “McWidow” as a gift.

Final Airdate:February 23, 2023

Reason for Exit:Eager to explore other opportunities after nearly two decades in scrubs, the original cast member returned for Season 19 (and beyond) in only a limited capacity. But the show “is going to be just fine without me,” she assured our sister siteDeadline. Not that it would ever beentirelywithout Pompeo; she was continuing on as an executive producer, guest-starring now and then and providing the voiceover narration that wraps around each episode.

How She Left: Hoping to ease daughter Zola’s anxiety attacks, Meredith relocated with her children to Boston, where she’d been offered a job at the Catherine Fox Foundation by former colleague Jackson.

Final Airdate:May 19, 2016

Reason for Exit:A month afterRamirez set the rumor mill abuzz by cryptically tweeting, “That’s a wrap for Dr. Callie Torres,”they confirmed that they were leavingGrey’s.“I’m taking some welcome time off,”they said in a statement. But “I look forward to always being a part of the Shondaland family.”

How She Left: In the wake of an acrimonious custody battle with Arizona, Callie was encouraged by her ex-wife to follow her new girlfriend Penny to New York; Sofia’s moms would work out the rest later. In Season 14’s finale, it was strongly hinted that, upon Arizona’s relocation to the Big Apple, “Calzona” would reunite.

Final Airdate:May 18, 2023

Reason for Exit:After leading lady Pompeo stepped down as a series regular, so did Speedman, who played (and still occasionally plays) Meredith’s significant other.

How He Left: Though the actor has continued to recur after Season 19’s finale, that episode marked the moment that Nick went all-in with his lady love. Nick ultimately followed Meredith to Boston and, no matter how many hurdles she threw up, he leapt over them all — and bless his heart, seemed determined to keep right on doing so.

Final Airdate:Nov. 6, 2008

Reason for Exit:Simply put,ABCdidn’t like the character, and Shonda Rhimes seemed to agree, tellingEW.comin a statement at the time that she wasn’t feeling the “magic” between Smith’s Hahn and Sara Ramirez’s Callie. However, Rhimes denied that Smith’s pink slip resulted from gay panic.

How She Left:In what endures as aGrey’s punchlineto this day, Dr. Hahn ventured out to the hospital’s parking garage to head home for the night and was never seen or heard from again.

Final Airdate:N/A as she’s technically been recurring since her debut in Season 14

Reason for Exit:After popping up onStation 19more and more since its third season, Spampinato was made a series regular on the spinoff in Season 4.

How She Left:Technically, Carina still works at Grey Sloan. It’s just that for the last few years, viewers saw more of her onStation 19as Carina tied the knot with firefighter Maya, overcame countless obstacles to keep their relationship intact and started a family that seemedtailor-made for a spinoff.

Final Airdate:May 17, 2007

Reason for Exit:Addison was such a hit that, after only two seasons as aGrey’sregular, Walsh was tapped for her own spinoff,Private Practice. “I was shocked and excited and mostly blown away” when Shonda Rhimes made the offer, Walsh toldTV Guide. “I was so flattered that they would think of my character to take off for greener pastures.”

How She Left:Though Walsh would still guest-star onGrey’s now and then, Addison took off from Seattle to join the Oceanside Wellness Group in L.A.

Final Airdate:May 17, 2007

Reason for Exit:During Season 3, Washington was alleged to have used a hom*ophobic slur on the set to refer to castmate T.R. Knight — a slur that he then repeated at the Golden Globes. Washington was subsequently let go. “Season 4 is going to be stronger, better, wiser and smarter,” he toldEntertainment Weeklyat the time. “I had hoped to be a contributor to that.”

How He Left:On the day that he was to marry Cristina, Burke left her at the wedding chapel, packed up and departed from Seattle. Seven seasons later,he summoned his ex to Zurich to ask her to take over his prestigious hospital there, as he and his family were looking to relocate to Milan.

Final Airdate:May 20, 2021

Reason for Exit:None was given. Instead, as he departed the show after 12 years, Williams merelyexpressed his gratitude for his long run. “I have been obscenely lucky to learn so much from so many,” he said in a statement. “I am immensely proud of our work, our impact and to be moving forward with so many tools, opportunities, allies and dear friends.”

How He Left:Intent on creating real racial equality in healthcare, Jackson relocated from Seattle to Boston in order to take over the Catherine Fox Foundation. He didn’t go alone, either; to the delight of “Japril” shippers, he convinced newly-single ex-wife April to move, too, with their daughter, Harriet.