Ellen Pompeo knows fans keep wondering when she’ll finally hang up the scrubs in Grey’s Anatomy, but she’s not going anywhere.
After 20 seasons as Meredith Grey, Pompeo has clarified exactly why she won’t walk away from Grey’s Anatomy, and it comes down to two things: emotion and economics.
“The show was streamed more than a billion times in 2024,” she said in a recent interview. “That would make no sense, emotionally or financially.”
Let’s break that down. Grey’s Anatomy is still a global juggernaut. Pompeo may have stepped back in recent seasons, appearing in fewer episodes to spend more time with her family, but quitting entirely? Not a chance.
She’s well aware that while networks and streaming platforms continue raking in money off her face, her voice, and 20 years of character work, she’d be walking away from the royalties, the residuals, and the influence she built.
“If I were to walk away completely, everybody gets to make money from my hard work for 20 years, and I wouldn’t make any money,” she said bluntly. “It doesn’t make any sense that everybody else gets to profit and I don’t.”
But it’s not just about the paycheck. Pompeo also recognizes what Grey’s means to its audience, and what it’s meant to her. “Emotionally, the show means a lot to people. I want to have an attitude of gratitude toward the show,” she added.
Still, the lighter workload has given her time to explore new roles, like her upcoming lead in Hulu’s A Good American Family, a true-crime drama based on the bizarre real-life case of Natalia Grace. Pompeo plays Kristine Barnett, the adoptive mother who believed the girl was actually an adult in disguise. It’s a far cry from Seattle Grace Hospital, and Pompeo calls the shift both “thrilling and terrifying.”
“I hadn’t tested myself in 20 years,” she admitted. “If I’m going to ask fans to watch me as someone other than Meredith, I better deliver.”
So no, Ellen Pompeo isn’t quitting Grey’s Anatomy. Not now, not while it’s still a billion-stream beast. She’s just playing it smarter, splitting her time between a legendary legacy and a new chapter that’s finally all her own.
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