“I’m clearly not prepared right now to make any formal announcement about what my future is on the show," Ellen told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Monday, "but I am really feeling like we have told the majority of the stories that we can tell."
While Grey's Anatomy fans are busy gearing up for this Thursday's two-hour season 15 premiere, actress Ellen Pompeo was off breaking hearts with hints that she may be leavingher beloved Meredith Grey character behind.
“I’m clearly not prepared right now to make any formal announcement about what my future is on the show," Ellen told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Monday, "but I am really feeling like we have told the majority of the stories that we can tell."
She then added:
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
Before you lose it entirely, here's what is known about Ellen's future on the show. In January, she signed a two-year contract renewal with the ABC Studios, securing her $575,000 per episode and making her the highest-paid actress on a television drama, according to Variety. It also not only cements the almost-on-the-air season 15 for devoted viewers, but also season 16, which should wrap by 2020.
It's unclear right now if the show will try to go on without Meredith Grey (kind of like how The Vampire Diaries did a season without Nina Dobrev, or how Scrubs had a final season without the original cast). But seeing as how Grey's mastermind Shonda Rhimes has said"The show will go on as long as Ellen wants to do it," the future looks bleak for Grey's if Ellen decides to leave.
Along with digging deeper into her career as a producer (including further development of her production company Calamity Jane) Ellen told EW said she also wants to spend more time with her children, Eli Christopher, 21 months, Sienna May, 3, and Stella Luna, 8.
"My children are getting older so I want to be more available to them now," she said. "I can’t be an absentee mom if they’re teenagers, I have to be around to whip their butts. So it’s definitely time for change in my life. I’m really looking forward to it and that’s the beauty of my situation."
But just because she might be leaving the show doesn't mean that she's just gonna phone it in. "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," she said. "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.”
And, yeah, yeah, I'm really happy for you Ellen. But, damn, this one's gonna hurt.
The season 15 premiere of Grey's Anatomy airs on ABC this Thursday, September 27 at 8 p.m.