Spoiler Warning: Grey’s Anatomy Season 18
For a show running for 18 seasons since 2005, Grey’s Anatomy has some seriously loyal fans. And one thing that the fans can all agree upon is that they have all lost track of the number of bombshells Shonda Rhimes has dropped on the show right from season 1. From shootings to bombings to even plan crashes and everything in between. This Shondaland production series is an American medical drama that has followed the lives of several surgical interns, residents, and attendings for almost two decades now.
So, how does Rhimes manage to keep Grey’s Anatomy’s fans still glued to the show and on the edge of their seat? With all the nail-biting drama, of course. And this season was no different. In fact, one might say that this season’s drama is far scarier without any shootings, plane crashes, and so on.
Throughout this season of Grey’s Anatomy, we saw Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo, splitting her time between her full-time job at Grey+Sloan Hospital in Seattle, and Minnesota, where she worked on a clinical trial to cure Parkinson’s disease. It seemed like the latter was winding down, but Dr. David Hamilton, played by Peter Gallagher, offered Meredith a job of a lifetime, one that would bring a complete change to her life. She now has to choose whether she wants to take this job and move to Minnesota for good or continue staying in Seattle at Grey Sloan.
So, is Meredith Grey leaving Grey Sloan?
Will Meredith Leave Seattle?
This entire season we have seen Meredith shuttling between Minnesota and Seattle. Though nothing about her permanently moving to Minnesota was spoken of for the longest time, fans were speculating something like that, especially with the budding romance between her and Dr. Nick Marsh, played by Scott Speedman. However, towards the second half of the season, we saw Meredith being offered the job in Minnesota.
While she hadn’t decided whether she wanted to take the job up or not, her colleagues, Dr. Miranda Bailey and Dr. Richard Webber’s, played by Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr., respectively, reacted to the news and the assumption that she would be taking it up is something that didn’t go down too well.
However, speculations that Grey leaving Seattle further solidified in the episode “Should I Stay or Should I Go” when a conversation between the Grey and Marsh on the episode went as follows:
"Don't come to Minnesota. If you leave right now, your people won't be okay," he said, referring to Grey Sloan possibly losing its surgical residency program. "You won't be okay. You won't be happy, and you'll resent me just a little bit. And I know you have kids. They're going to have to get used to me being around. And I'm going to get my own place, and we are going to do this thing the normal way... I'm taking a few months, and I'm staying here. We can be together, here."
"I have the right to leave," said an agitated Meredith. "I have earned the right to leave. Other people from my residency program, they left and took opportunities. I stayed. I worked. I researched. I won awards for that place. I did everything that was expected of me and then some. And now, if I want to leave, it's considered disloyal. It's ridiculous. It's absurd. You know what else it is? It's my decision. I've made my decision."
"I wasn't suggesting we stay here forever," Nick responded. "I was suggesting we stay long enough to save the program and then go to Minnesota. You have absolutely earned the right to leave."
"Okay, fine. We can stay," said Meredith. "But just for a little while."
This entire conversation sparked a huge discussion on social media, with fans thinking that the speech was about Ellen Pompeo wanting to leave Grey’s Anatomy.
Ellen Pompeo’s Future On Grey’s Anatomy
We aren’t sure whether Meredith will continue living in Seattle and working at Grey Sloan. Still, we know for sure that ABC renewed the medical show for another season, and Ellen Pompeo signed a new deal where she reportedly got another salary hike for continuing, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Chairman of entertainment at Walt Disney Television, Dana Walden, stated with the news:
“Grey’s Anatomy is a true phenomenon, beloved by audiences around the world. Whether they catch it live on ABC, or stream it on Hulu or globally on Disney+ or Star+, it’s clear that fans can’t get enough of Shonda Rhimes’ brilliant creation.We have enormous faith in Shonda, Krista Vernoff, Ellen Pompeo and the entire creative team to unlock new, untold stories that will continue to focus on modern medicine, tackle the issues that shape the world around us, and resonate deeply with loyal fans for years to come.”