It feels like we’ve been talking about Ellen Pompeo’s departure from Grey’s Anatomy for years, and just like that she’s back in the season 20 premiere trailer.
On December 30, ABC released new footage of Meredith Grey’s upcoming return to the long-running medical drama. Season 20 of Grey’s Anatomy premiers on March 14, just about a year after Pompeo’s final turn as a series regular.
The upcoming season will be the first where she is officially not part of the main cast, as the 54-year-old actor seemingly ended her decade-plus stint with an understated goodbye in the February midseason premiere of season 19. At the time many fans weren’t too pleased with how the show ushered its lead character out. Comparing it with some more dramatic past exits, several fans felt it was a little blah. Well, now we know why Meredith’s “goodbye” didn’t really feel like one–it truly was just a “see ya later,” huh?
As she said in season 19, “I’m only going to Boston and, you know. I’ll probably be here next week.” In real time, “next week” actually meant months later, but she wasn’t joking!
The fate of Grey’s Anatomy has been in flux for a while. When Pompeo’s contract was up around season 17, it looked as though she would either leave or the show would end. Neither ended up happening. The show continues, with Pompeo in the back seat. She will still provide the voice over, and her title character didn’t get brutally killed off like so many Grey’s Anatomy surgeons, doctors, and interns before her. (Meanwhile, Station 19 got canceled and will end with season 7. Can we make sure the cast stays employed in Seattle on Grey’s, please??)
In June, Pompeo reunited with OG Grey’s star Katherine Heigl for Variety’s Actors on Actors series. She not only explained the nature of her departure but expressed enthusiasm about what’s to come for the character even in this scaled-back role on the series.
“[Meredith’s goodbye is] a little bit of trickery because I’m not completely gone,” the actor and producer told Heigl. “Actually, the storyline is very cool. There’s a lot of real research that’s changing very rapidly about Alzheimer’s disease and about what they believe is the cause of Alzheimer’s disease. It’s pretty controversial. So Meredith’s character left to go to Boston because her daughter needed to go to a special school. I will be making some appearances hopefully next year, if I can find some time.”
The season 20 first-look trailer doesn’t give away too much about what Meredith is doing back at Grey Sloan Memorial. We briefly see Meredith sitting across from a desk, asking, “How long do I have to wait?” when the person she’s talking to is clearly texting. In another glimpse, Bailey tells her that the current crop of baby interns are in trouble.
