It’s the end of an era as Ellen Pompeo leaves the medical drama that has kept us all hooked since the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy aired on March 27, 2005. That’s right, for nearly two decades, Pompeo has been the guiding light throughout the halls of Seattle Grace, now Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
When we first met Pompeo’s Meredith Grey, she was waking up after a steamy night before her first day as a surgical resident at Seattle Grace Hospital. Her journey to medicine seemed written in the stars, or at least flowing through her veins and deeply embedded within her DNA. As the series took us through the ups and downs of the interns, surgeons, and doctors, we also found out more about their personal lives. If the series title didn’t already give it away, it was immediately clear that Meredith was an integral part of the story. In fact, it seemed to revolve around her.
Fans of Grey’s Anatomy have seen many a death at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, often in the form of characters we knew and loved. The series has always done an incredible job of making patients easy to root for, just as it’s made it easy to fall in love with the core group of medical professionals. So saying goodbye to one of them is a nearly impossible task every time it’s asked of us, and Grey’s fans have said plenty of goodbyes in our time.
So with Pompeo exiting Grey’s Anatomy, we’re looking back at nearly two decades with one of our favorite television heroines, Meredith Grey. We’re reflecting upon the highs and lows she’s experienced and how she’s coached so many of us through our own. If you’re curious about just how deeply interwoven Meredith is in the story and what the future of the series may look like in her absence, we’ve got you covered!
How many Grey’s Anatomy episodes was Ellen Pompeo in?
If you can believe it, Pompeo has been in over 400 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, yes — you read that right. Pompeo has been breathing life into Meredith for 406 episodes, to be exact, with the 407th being her big farewell. Saying goodbye to the heart and soul of Grey’s Anatomy feels like something rather tricky; how do you send off someone like Meredith? How do we wrap up her character’s storyline in a sufficient way?
Fans will be glad to know she’s not leaving the series in a complete and final sense of existence. Pompeo is still set to narrate the beginning and end of episodes, and we’re curious if that will tie into a larger fan-theory storyline in the future. No matter what comes next for Meredith and Grey Sloan Memorial, it’s evident that her legacy will live on in the halls, rooms, and friends she leaves behind. The hospital was her playground growing up, where she first fell in love, experienced heartache, and had her broken heart pieced back together.
Meredith’s mother, Ellis Grey, was a world-famous surgeon who fell in love with Meredith’s mentor, Richard Webber, something Meredith would find out as she grew closer to him. Something else Meredith would find out, and quickly, is that the man she spent that steamy first night with was a renowned neurosurgeon; at the very same hospital! Talk about an awkward turn of events.
Awkward or not, that night set her life on a path that would lead to a version of happily ever after and then of despair so deep, she wasn’t sure how she’d survive it. We’ve seen the highest of highs and the deepest of lows for Meredith, and we’re not entirely done with her story yet. While this is a send-off, Meredith herself even says it’s not like she won’t be popping in soon to say hello.
For once, we’re left with an open door for a character we’ve experienced so much with; and it’s a much lighter goodbye than that of…let’s say, Derek Shepherd, Denny Duquette, or Lexie Grey — and yes, we’re still holding grudges about them.
What were some of Meredith’s most prominent storylines?
As the heart of the series from the very beginning, Meredith Grey has been the crux of Grey’s Anatomy for 19 seasons. For as long as we’ve known Grey Sloan, we’ve known Meredith. With almost every storyline that exists within the series, we discover something new about the many layers of the character.
So what have been some of Meredith’s defining moments in the series? There are almost too many to count, from her first moments in the series to her last; Meredith’s story is being told with such vulnerability and intimacy that we all feel like she’s been a friend to us for years.
Meredith meeting Derek has to be the most complex and beautiful piece of her Grey’s Anatomy journey, as it maps out the entirety of her life at Grey Sloan. There’s the “pick me, choose me, love me” speech that left us all in tears and may or may not have been sported on the back of our favorite crewneck. Something about the love story between Meredith and Derek draws you in with a relentless passion, much like the look in his eyes when he built a layout of their future home outlined with candles and asked Meredith to marry him. There was the Post-It wedding, the kids they shared, and those moments in between. The stolen kisses in the elevator, the scene when Derek pulled her out of the water, and when he promised to be her knight in shining whatever.
Of course, in chronicling their love story, we must address the heartbreaking moment when we were forced to say goodbye to Derek. In terms of defining moments for Meredith, that was one of them. It was the moment that spurred the second awakening of Meredith, as was the moment she visited him in a space somewhere between life and death, as is every moment she wears his scrub hat in surgery. Derek is deeply interwoven with Meredith; he is her great love.
Meredith’s next great love was Christina Yang, and if we look back at the biggest moments in their friendship, well — we’d be here all day. So we’ll pick a few of them, starting toward the end of Christina’s journey on the series when they had their last moment together to dance it out. Christina reminded Meredith that Derek was very dreamy but that she was the sun. It was a moment that put the spotlight on the idea that some of our greatest loves in life will be with our friends, the kind of loves that aren’t intertwined with romance but instead with concern and care for a friend-turned-family.
There were also the moments when Christina would crawl into bed with Meredith, pushing Derek out so they could talk, be there for one another, and simply find comfort in the value of their best friend’s opinion. Meredith was Christina’s person and vice versa.
There were also the moments when Meredith began to understand her mother, working through therapy and her mom’s old journals, and she realized that — while her memories were real and very true to her story, she could see her mom through a different lens. Ellis wasn’t just someone who needed control; she was a woman who felt like the world underneath her feet was spinning in a different direction than she was going; it was a place for her to relate to her mother; it gave them some common ground.
Meredith’s attack in season 12 was a big moment for her, as it reminded us that sometimes forgiveness is a gift for both the other person and ourselves. It also gave her a moment of true vulnerability with Alex, another part of Meredith’s character arc. There were several scenes and seasons when Meredith and Alex didn’t see eye to eye, but their friendship was born through all of it, and it’s one of our favorite pieces of the entire Grey’s Anatomy puzzle.
As we said, we’d be here all day if we talked about all of her most significant moments, but there are a few to remind you of the ups and downs, twists and turns, and the nonstop spin of the carousel we’ve been on, walking hand in hand with Meredith.
What does Pompeo/Grey’s exit mean for the future of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital?
With Meredith leaving Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, fans have a question: what’s next? What does the future for Grey’s Anatomy hold without Pompeo? The answer is a simple one; there are still a lot of stories to be told. Meredith says as much in voiceovers promoting her exit from the series; she sees a lot in this group of interns: many familiarities and good. She sees magic in them, a sense of pride in their work — she sees students of medicine who will become teachers one day.
As far as Meredith’s next step? Well, it’s not the type of goodbye where she walks out of a door, never to return to it again. Pompeo plans to visit Grey Sloan in the future, which makes a lot of sense. As the story of Grey’s Anatomy continues being told, it wouldn’t feel right if Meredith wasn’t involved somehow. It’ll be interesting to see just how they keep her engaged beyond voiceovers. We’re still very curious to see if this is leading to the fan-driven idea that Grey’s Anatomy is a retelling of Meredith’s story after we’ve already lost her, that we’re hearing this story through journals or memories of a Meredith with Alzheimer’s disease.
No matter what happens, Pompeo feels blessed to have been a part of it all. She shared the following caption in an Instagram post marking the end of an era.
“I am eternally grateful and humbled by the love and support you have all shown me, Meredith GREY and the show for 19 seasons! Through it all….none of it …would have been possible without the best fans in the world. You all are RIDERS and you all have made the ride so fun and ICONIC!! I love you madly and appreciate you right back. This isn’t your first time on the rollercoaster… you know the show must go on and I’ll definitely be back to visit.”
The rollercoaster is quite a journey, and being on it with Meredith Grey has been an honor. Here’s to 19 incredible seasons, over 400 episodes, and a look at life, love, and heartache.
