Grey’s Anatomy season 19 spoilers: When will Meredith leave?

The news has been out there for a good while now, but it’s worth reiterating that Grey’s Anatomy season 19 will be without Ellen Pompeo at some point. We know that the actress is departing to pursue a new gig over on Hulu, though she will remain on board as a narrator and executive producer. She’s not gone from the series entirely, and that always leaves the door open for her to come back.

One of the big, burning questions that we’ve had ever since the news on Pompeo’s exit was out there was how her time on the show would be scheduled. Would her eight season 19 episodes be all at once, or scheduled out over time? Well, we’ve now got a full answer. Speaking in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Krista Vernoff had the following to say when it comes to the long-term future of Ellen on the show even beyond this season:

I haven’t crossed that bridge yet because I’ve got Meredith for the first eight episodes, and then I’ll have less of Meredith. So one of the goals here is to platform this new class of residents in a way that everyone falls in love with them. And if Meredith isn’t here anymore all the time, everybody still wants to come. I think Ellen is extraordinary and this show has always been an ensemble show. We have so many characters that are so beloved and have been on the show for so long that people would stay for. I just felt like it was important to also bring in fresh young students for those people to teach. Those people are all teachers now. I needed students.

This season is obviously going to mark a huge transition, given that there are five new characters in the surgical residents coming on board. That means that we’ll have a big balancing act as you trying to focus on both the new and old faces at the same time. It’s hard to know in advance if this show will work or not, but even if it ends soon, this is still the longest-running medical drama of all time. We don’t think that Grey’s Anatomy has anything to be sad about at all.

Related – Check out more on the subject of Owen and Teddy’s future

What do you most want to see when it comes to Grey’s Anatomy season 19?

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