It was the end of an era when Meredith Grey packed up and moved to Boston in the middle of Grey’s Anatomy’s 19th season, but with the huge news of Ellen Pompeo’s exit as a season regular came plenty of assurances that the OG cast member wasn’t really gone. It was still Meredith’s voice narrating the majority of the episodes, Pompeo was still an EP on the series, and the character even made an appearance in the season finale. With all that in the rearview mirror, however, what does the future hold for Grey’s Anatomy’s namesake surgeon? Pompeo recently spoke about her storyline and plans for Season 20.
When the surgeons of Grey Sloan Memorial bid Meredith a farewell in the episode “I’ll Follow the Sun,” Krista Vernoff promised it was more of a “see you later” than a full-on loss of the character. Sure enough, Ellen Pompeo was back for the two-hour season finale, and fans got to see just what the doctor had been up to in Massachusetts. Pompeo seemed excited about her story, revealing to Variety what we should expect to see from Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy Season 20:
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.
With the Writers Guild of America members still on strike, everything’s up in the air, and Grey’s Anatomy fans are looking at a much longer wait than usual before the drama returns to ABC. However, with the introduction of a new storyline for Meredith — one based in real-world research that Ellen Pompeo is inspired by — it sounds like she’s hopeful that she’ll be able to make the scheduling work for “some appearances.” That’s plural, so I like it.
Similar reports came out of contract negotiations, as several veteran Grey’s Anatomy cast members signed on to return, with the door being left open for Ellen Pompeo to make guest appearances. It’s possible she’ll even still provide narration, though there are some other good options for who could replace Meredith as the narrator.
The plot of the Season 19 finale certainly seemed to indicate she’d be back, because it would be pretty frustrating to see the whole Alzheimer’s debate started, only to drop it, but I’m sure a lot of that depends on how her schedule shakes out with her upcoming Hulu project.
Ellen Pompeo is executive producing and starring in an as-yet-untitled Orphan project for Hulu, where she will play Kristine Barnett, the adoptive mother of Natalia, a Ukrainian child with dwarfism. Kristine and her ex-husband Michael Barnett were accused of abandoning Natalia and moving to Canada, but the Barnetts allege the supposed 6-year-old they adopted was actually an adult woman who was conning them.
We’re excited to see all of Ellen Pompeo’s future projects come to fruition, and hopefully Grey’s Anatomy will remain a part of that. While we wait for news regarding Season 20, the first 18 seasons of the medical drama are available to stream with a Netflix subscription (Season 19 will be added June 17). Be sure to keep an eye on the 2023 TV schedule for more upcoming premiere dates.
