Grey’s AnatomyCreator Shonda Rhimesand series star Ellen PompeoBoth said that the long-running ABC drama about medical dramas will end when the actress walks away.
The series debuted in 2005. It has seen many ups and downs over the years. However, the creative team behind it wants everyone to be happy with the end.
“I didn’t ever think that I would stay on the show this long. It happened, it’s true. It’s been this incredible platform for me and allowed me to stay home with my kids so much and not travel and have the circus life of an actor,” she told Variety2020. “So I thought that it wasn’t the road less traveled, to stay on a television show for this many years, but actually it is the road less traveled. And so, that’s been ironic.”
Although she said she has “no expectations” about the show’s eventual end, she does have an idea in mind for Meredith Grey’s final episode.
Pompeo spoke out about her fight for equal pay after 14 seasons of the series in January 2018. The Hollywood ReporterShe attempted to negotiate a deal with her former costar Patrick Dempsey. (Dempsey left the show in 2015, and returned in 2020 for a multi-episode series.
“They could always use him as leverage against me — ‘We don’t need you; we have Patrick’ — which they did for years. I don’t know if they also did that to him, because he and I never discussed our deals,” she recalled at the time. “There were many times where I reached out about joining together to negotiate, but he was never interested in that. I once asked for $5,000 more than he just out of principle because the show is so good. Grey’s Anatomy and I’m Meredith Grey. They wouldn’t give it to me.”
She eventually got her ask and became one among the highest-paid actors in TV, making nearly $20 million per annum. So what happens after that?
“I can do anything I want or not do anything at all,” the producer said on CBS This Morning2021
Take a look at the gallery below to see everything the actress has to say about the end of the show.
