For the last 14 years, "Grey`s Anatomy" had it all:
characters were falling in love, getting sick, dying, leaving the show,
breaking up and then coming back together.
The number of characters killed in Grey`s Anatomy may perhaps only compete with Games of Thrones.
Get to know what is happening with the actors portraying our favorite characters now that
they have left the show.
Spoiler alert!
There will be lots of spoilers, so get ready!
What will Eric Dane have to deal with?
Why did Sandra Oh leave the show?
Will Kate Walsh ever come back?
Why did Shonda Rhimes decide to "kill off" Lexie Grey?
We all remember the talented cardiothoracic surgeon from the early seasons of Grey`s Anatomy.
It was he who made Cristina Yang great, it was he who gave her the scalpel for the first
time and directed her along the path of cardiac surgery.
It turned out that his story was not over yet, when Isaiah Washington suddenly left
the cast after the third season.
There was a huge scandal on the set, the kind you can only see in the show itself.
Gossip was spreading around the set, saying that Isaiah Washington used a homophobic word
for the actor who played George, T.R. Knight.
Isaiah himself confirmed the rumors, by apologizing to a colleague for an "unfortunate use of
words during the recent incident on-set," but then suddenly took his apology back.
"No, I did not call T.R.
[Knight] a faggot," he told reporters backstage at the Golden Globes.
"Never happened, never happened."
The story became nastier because Knight had not yet publicly come out as gay during this conflict.
The scandal continued for over a year until June 2007, when Washington was officially
fired from the show, following months of controversy and speculation.
The moment Washington left the show created one of the most heartbreaking scenes, as Cristina
was abruptly left alone at the altar.
Isaiah is currently working on the CW show "The 100."
It seems like the war between Isaiah and Shonda is not over yet as recently, in May 2018 he
stated that he was ousted from "Grey's Anatomy" in 2007 over false accusations.
fueled by an allegedly racist ABC executive ... and that Shonda Rhimes knows it too, and has his back.
T.R. Knight left the show at the end of season five.
The actor explained that he was not satisfied with his lack of screen time.
Later on, T.R. said that Shonda Rhimes was against his coming out, right after the scandal
with Isaiah Washington.
However, Shonda herself said it was not true.
It is hard to believe that a person like Shonda Rhimes can be against anyone coming out, isn`t it?
T.R. Knight wanted his character, George O'Malley to become gay as well, but Shonda did not
accept his idea.
"I was like, 'We are not going to do that.'
The idea that a gay actor can't play a straight man is insulting," Shonda said.
George`s death turned out to be one of the most tragic moments in the show and broke
dozens of hearts.
Before Grey`s Anatomy, T.R. acted on the stages of Broadway.
This includes some pretty successful projects, such as Tartuffe, Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing.
So it was not a surprise that after leaving the show, he went back to Broadway again.
Though he did also play some episodic roles in a couple of the shows like The Good Wife.
Katherine Heigl, who played Izzie Stevens, also left the show, but not without reason.
Only a year after the scandal with Isaiah Washington, Katherine refused to compete in
getting the Emmy award.
She claimed: "I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy
nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew
my name from contention." Yikes.
Sounds like a complaint, doesn`t it?
In response, Shonda Rhimes pointed out that Izzie had less to do in season four because
Heigl had asked for a lighter work schedule, due to her movie commitments.
Everyone expected her to leave the show pretty soon but she stayed for two more seasons.
When Heigl ultimately left the show, she commented: "I am done.
We just finalized our agreement.
Everyone had been working really hard to find an amicable and gracious way of letting go
and moving on.
It's sad but it's what I wanted."
Sounds pleasant and drama-free, right?
Heigl got into several movies after Grey`s Anatomy, but they all were a failure.
She is currenty trying to make a comeback on TV.
This year, Heigl joined the cast of the 'Suits' where she plays the role of Samantha Wheeler,
a new partner at the fictional law firm of Zane Specter Litt.
After the tragic death of Lexie in the eighth season finale, fans could not get over it
for a long time.
The romantic story of Lexie and Mark was one of the most precious and exciting things in Grey`s Anatomy.
Following two weeks of silence, actress Chyler Leigh finally revealed the reason for her
shocking departure from the show.
"Earlier this year, I made the decision that Season 8 would be my last.”
So she met with Shonda and together they came up with Lexie’s appropriate closure story.
The night that the Grey’s finale aired, Rhimes shared on her Twitter that killing
off Lexie “was not an easy decision.
But it was a decision that Chyler and I came to together.
We had a lot of thoughtful discussion about it and ultimately we both decided this was
the right time for her character’s journey to end.”
After Grey`s Anatomy, Chyler starred in several films, and received a main leading role in
the series, Supergirl.
When Eric Dane died at the beginning of Season 9, fans were devastated.
Luckily, they got a chance to see McSteamy once again - this time as Tom Chandler on
TNT’s “The Last Ship”.
Eric appeared on this show just a month after his departure from Grey`s Anatomy.
Despite the fact that Dane was excited about his new project with Michael Bay, he confessed
that it was hard for him to leave Grey`s behind.
“I loved doing ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’
I would have done it until the final episode, but this was something I couldn’t pass up.”
When Shonda Rhimes wrote Dane off the series, she explained that she had to kill the character
as she didn’t want to leave him alive and grieving for his recently deceased girlfriend, Lexie.
"Mark dies. And he and Lexie get to be together in a way.
Their love remains true.”
Unfortuately, Eric left the Last Ship series last year to overcome his depression.
We hope for a fast recovery and wish him new and exciting roles.
Dr. Addison Montgomery impressed the creators
of the show so much that Kate was offered to start her own spin-off named "Private Practice".
The show follows Addison as she leaves Seattle Grace Hospital in order to join a private
practice in LA.
Kate was left astonished by the producers, as she did not have a clue.
"I was shocked and excited and mostly just totally blown away.
Then I was nervous, like, 'Wait, really?
Why me?'"
Private Practice was on air for 6 seasons before Kate said goodbye to the world of Grey`s
Anatomy and her character Addison.
Kate is currently starring as one of the main characters in 13 Reasons Why.
However, Shonda recently claimed that she wanted to get Kate back into the show: “I
need Addison Forbes Montgomery, too,” she said, before adding, “[But] I can’t bring
back people who don’t exist in terms of availability.
Kate’s busy, people!”
Would that not be a real blessing for the fans of Grey's Anatomy?
The unthinkable happens.
McDreamy is killed off a full season before his contract is up.
It seems that fans will never fully recover from the tragic loss of Derek Shepherd.
Shonda Rhimes really stirred the pot by letting Derek die due to doctors` incompetence.
McDreamy`s death and the resulting end of the central love story was such a shocking
move, that it didn't take long for fans to gossip about the real reason for Dempsey's departure.
According to dozens of tabloid headlines, Dempsey was either fired for acting like a
diva on set, or for having a "messy and emotional" affair with a show staffer - or both!
Anyway, he got on the wrong side of Shonda, and McDreamy was cut off.
It was unexpected even for Patrick, nevertheless, he always speaks of Shonda with respect.
When asked whether he still remains friends with the creators of the show, Patrick replies,
"I think so, yes."
On The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore, Rhimes admits to killing off a character because
she didn't like the actor.
"I'm not naming names," she says, "But everyone knows who she's talking about.
After Grey's Anatomy, Dempsey worked on two small-screen projects: a drama called The
Limit, for Sundance TV, and a travelogue spy thriller called Fodors.
He said, "I would love to do something else.
I’m going to take the rest of the year off to develop.
I would like to be a producer."
People started to talk about Callie`s death when Sara Ramirez tweeted "that's a wrap"
for Dr. Callie Torres.
As we now know, her character avoided being killed off.
Instead, Callie exits the series gracefully.
She and Rhimes each released beautiful, gratitude-filled statements on the topic.
"I'm deeply grateful to have spent the last 10 years with my family at Grey's Anatomy
& ABC but for now I'm taking some welcome time off," Ramirez wrote.
However, the grieving about the beautiful Kelly Torres did not last long!
She appeared in the 14th season finale, which made fans feel really nostalgic.
Who else misses Kelly's hot dancing?
Just recently, another announcement shocked the fans.
Jessica Capshaw (Dr. Arizona Robbins) and Sarah Drew (Dr. April Kepner) are confirmed
to leave the show after season 14.
We have already fallen in love with Arizona and April, and now it seems that the show
would not be the same without the two.
Well, this is Grey`s Anatomy, where it seems like anyone can die at any moment.
Producers decided not to renew their contracts based on "the show’s creative direction,"
and according to Drew’s social media post, the news came as something of a shock to her
and Capshaw.
"I know you’re sad," she wrote.
"I’m sad too.
I haven’t really had the time to process this information.
I’ve been with it for less than 48 hours, so I’m not ready to say my thank you and
give an all-encompassing statement about my 9 years here.
That will come later :)"
The reasons for this decision are not clear yet, as fans really fell in love with both
Arizona and April.
The actresses' future plans are unknown, but we are hoping to hear about her new projects soon.
Happy endings for characters on Grey’s Anatomy almost never happen, but for Nathan Riggs
and Megan Hunt(who Nathan had thought to be dead for the past decade), creators seemed
to make an exception.
So why exactly is Martin Henderson leaving Grey’s Anatomy?
Looks like Riggs’ story has come to an end, and this time it is finally a happy one.
This is the kind of happy ending that Meredith always had wanted for herself and Derek...
Looks like this is the exact reason why Nathan Riggs appeared in Grey`s Anatomy.
Let us know in the comments below which actors you'd like to learn more about!
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