Ellen Pompeo Confirms Upcoming ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Episode Won’t Be Her Last

Is Meredith Grey leaving Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital? Well, kind of, but not really, at least not according to Ellen Pompeo.

Pompeo’s time on Grey’s Anatomy as a full-time cast member is coming to an end when the medical drama returns from its winter break on Thursday, February 23. The episode, titled “I’ll Follow the Sun,” is written by Grey’s executive producer/showrunner Krista Vernoff.

However, this won’t be the last we see of Pompeo on the show, despite the fan speculation and the recent trailers teasing an emotional farewell.

“For the record, it’s not really my final,” Pompeo told Entertainment Tonight at the Michael Kors Fall/Winter 2023 Fashion Show in New York on Wednesday (February 15). “It’s a little bit of a trick they’re playing on people.”

While she confirmed that next week’s premiere is her “final episode for a while,” she didn’t rule out returning to the halls of Grey Sloan Memorial in the future.

It was previously reported that Pompeo would be reducing her role on the popular ABC series, only appearing in eight episodes of the current season. However, she will continue to narrate each episode and serve as executive producer. She is also expected to be back for the Season 19 finale later this year.

The mid-season finale saw Meredith make the decision to move to Boston to take a new job at the Catherine Fox Foundation and enroll Zola (Aniela Gumbs) at a new school she fell in love with. In the episode, Meredith announced her departure from Grey Sloan in an email.

In the meantime, Pompeo is looking ahead to new projects, including the upcoming Hulu limited series Orphan, “inspired by the true story of Ukrainian-born Natalia Grace and her US adoptive parents who claimed that she was an adult ‘sociopath’ pretending to be a child.”

Grey’s Anatomy, Midseason Premiere, Thursday, February 23, 9/8c, ABC