The announcement surprised more than one, as it seemed impossible to make Grey’s Anatomy without the one who gives the series its name and who has carried it since its very beginning, Dr Meredith Grey. On March 24, the American channel ABC renewed the longest medical drama in history, Emergency room having lasted “only” 15 seasons, for a twentieth season broadcast in the fall of 2023. Problem, its star actress, Ellen Pompeo, had already announced on Instagram last November her departure from the series at the end of the season 19.
Many thought that the departure of the iconic actress would sign the death of the show, which now only has two interpreters present since the first episode: Chandra Wilson (Dr Miranda Bailey) and James Pickens Jr. (Dr Richard Webber). But the series’ relatively good audiences – 4.3 million viewers on average last season in the United States – convinced the channel to continue the adventure. Too bad if the title of the show becomes wobbly, no longer any main character being called Gray (the character of Ellis Gray having died of Alzheimer’s disease in season 3 and that of Lexie Gray during an air crash during season 8).
Ellen Pompeo had already been less and less present for a few years
Will the departure of Ellen Pompeo really be a loss from a scriptwriting point of view? Although extremely popular, it must be recognized that the character of Meredith Gray had fewer and fewer narrative arcs that were exciting and linked to the other characters in the series. Since season 11 and the death of her great love, Dr. Derek Shepherd, played by Patrick Dempsey, the writers have never wanted to offer Meredith another great love story. Complicated then to exist in a series which is based to this point on the romantic relationships between the characters.
The series had also prepared us for the departure of Ellen Pompeo by reducing its airtime quite drastically in recent years. During season 19, for example, even if the actress continues to be the voiceover and narrator of all episodes, it was announced that she would only be physically present in eight of the 22 episodes that the season would have. The absence of the character is justified by a great opportunity for her to carry out research against Alzheimer’s disease in Boston, far from Seattle, the place of action in the series.
Many arrivals to revive the intrigues
Since the very first season, Grey’s Anatomy is actually a choral series that relies on an ensemble of doctors and not just on a star couple. Perhaps to anticipate the departure of their heroine, and especially to revive the intrigues, the current season of the series has thus welcomed five new interns within the hospital. This brings the number of performers credited as “main characters” to 17, a record for the series. A very large cast which also avoids the starification of the main actors, Ellen Pompeo having managed to be the best paid actress on television a few years ago with a fee of more than $ 550,000 per episode.
No worries for French fans of Meredith, they will soon be able to find her on their screens. TF1 is indeed resuming the broadcast of season 18 of Grey’s Anatomy from Wednesday April 12 in prime time. The channel had already broadcast the first fifteen episodes of the season last year, sometimes with a gap of barely a month and a half with the American broadcast. The last five episodes of season 18 will be broadcast on the first channel on April 12 and 19, before continuing with season 19 to allow viewers to say goodbye to Dr Meredith Grey, before a future return?