Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo has issued a blunt response about her future on the show, saying it "wouldn't make sense" for her to leave.
Back in 2022, Pompeo scaled back her physical appearances on the ABC medical drama as Dr. Meredith Grey, taking on a more limited role for season 19.
Since then, Pompeo, who has starred in the drama since 2005, has continued to guest star on the show, appearing in multiple episodes in seasons 20 and 21.
Asked by El País if she has plans to leave the show, Pompeo said: "That would make no sense, emotionally or financially.
"The show was streamed more than a billion times in 2024. More than a billion times. The companies that own the show and stream the show make a lot of money from our images and our voices and our faces," Pompeo said.
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"If I were to walk away completely, everybody gets to make money from my hard work for 20 years and I wouldn’t make any money."
She continued: "To me, it doesn’t make any sense that everybody [else] gets to profit off of my hard work. And emotionally, the show means a lot to people. I want to have an attitude of gratitude toward the show."
Speaking recently about her character's future on the show and whether she would stay until Grey's Anatomy ends, Pompeo told RadioTimes: "I can't really speak to that because I don't know when the show will end.
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"I don't know what will be in the future, and I know that it's important to everybody involved that I stay involved a little bit and I appreciate that.
"So I'm happy that I have the privilege to be able to dip in there and dip out and get the opportunity to do other things and explore my creative opportunities, but also get to still be a part of that. It's nothing, really, but a privilege."
Grey's Anatomy season 21 airs on Thursdays at 10pm ET on ABC in the US. Previous seasons are streaming on Disney+ in the UK.
Read more Grey's Anatomy news on our dedicated homepage
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
