Grey’s Anatomy season 19: When is Ellen Pompeo returning?

As so many of you may already know at this point, Ellen Pompeo is no longer a constant presents on-screen over on Grey’s Anatomy. However, she’s also not completely gone. She remains on board as an executive producer and narrator, and we’ve also known for a while that she will be back for the season finale.

So when are you going to see said finale on the air? Let’s just say you could be waiting a little while to check it out. ABC announced today that the medical drama will be tying up its latest batch of episodes on Thursday, May 18 with what is going to be a one-hour event. We’re only expecting to see Pompeo as Meredith Grey in one of the episodes, and we’ll be pleasantly surprised if that is not the case.

Of course, there is also another big question entering this finale beyond just how Meredith will be back — is this also going to be the final episode of the series? There is no formal season 20 renewal as of yet, though we remain hopeful that it is going to contain. After all, Grey’s Anatomy remains a significant source of revenue for the network, even though it is no longer the runaway smash hit that it once was. The producers have done a good job introducing the new interns, and it does feel like there is a good source of energy.

The problem here, though, is something the show cannot so easily fix: This isn’t the same TV-viewing world that was here when Grey’s Anatomy first premiered on the network almost twenty years ago. It is hard to get people to watch you live, and things are far more segmented across the board. If the show is going to survive without Meredith around full-time, it will need to be both cost-effective and creative all at once. That’s a hard combination to pull off.

Related – Check out some more news on the next Grey’s Anatomy, including when it will be airing

What do you want to see on the Grey’s Anatomy season 19 finale, and the return of Ellen Pompeo?

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