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During an interview with People, Shonda Rhimes confessed that “I’ve had 15 different endings for this show, and the show just keeps going. So anything that I had ever planned is no longer even mildly relevant” and that “I think maybe eight seasons ago I stopped thinking about it.” This is a natural consequence of letting a show run for so long that the current cast is almost unrecognizable from the show’s 2005 debut. Shuffling new characters in and old characters out naturally breaks up the narrative, making it very difficult to plan ahead.
There are only three characters from the original season still on the show: Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), and Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.). Pompeo is already looking for the exit door, as it was announced before Season 19 even began that she would have a reduced role moving forward. The longer the show goes on, the longer Rhimes risks losing its titular star and potentially having a finale that longtime fans find unsatisfying. However, when Rhimes was asked by People if Pompeo’s absence would impact the ending, she replied, “No, we’re all good there.”
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While Rhimes is also focused on other massive projects, like potentially eight more seasons of “Bridgerton,” she did confirm to People that she’ll be the one to make the final call on when “Grey’s Anatomy” will wrap up.
