Grey’s Anatomy season 21: Ellen Pompeo explains staying on

Over the course of the past few days, there have been a number of headlines about Ellen Pompeo and Grey’s Anatomy. Why? Well, a lot of it has to do with her longevity on the series and beyond that, the decisions that she made to stay on board after more than two decades.

Even if the actress is not on-screen for every single episode of the medical drama, we do know that she remains on board as an executive producer and narrator. She has said in the past that her decision to remain on the show is partially financial in nature, and we have an even better sense now of what that really means.

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In a new interview with Variety, Pompeo indicated that a lack of notable streaming residuals does make it all the more important for her to appear on-screen:

“Them having the ability to use my voice, my likeness, my image, 47 billion minutes a year and not paying me a penny wouldn’t really feel great to me … People don’t stream the last 10 years more than they stream the first 10 years. Most people stream the first 10 years the most, and there’s no residual structures for any of those writers, actors, directors. That, to me, is really shitty and really unfair. So, me being on the show a little bit and still getting to at least make money from them profiting off of us is more digestible for me. That’s why I stay on, to be honest.”

It is important to remember that the early Grey’s Anatomy came at a time when the industry had no grasp of streaming at all; hence, why what Ellen is saying makes a great deal of sense. We do think she also takes pride in her character, and of course it is not lost on her how many people were inspired to go into medicine because of the show.

Related – Be sure to get some more thoughts entering the Grey’s Anatomy finale next month!

Do you hope that Ellen Pompeo stays on Grey’s Anatomy until the very end?

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