Just a few days after Jesse Williams announced that he’ll be leaving Grey’s Anatomy after 12 seasons, the show has been renewed at least through Season 18. Ellen Pompeo will continue playing Dr. Meredith Grey.
The medical drama is in its 17th season and its TV’s No. 1 entertainment show in the 18 to 49 demographic with 8.3 million total viewers.
Several longtime cast members left this year and original cast members Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. will return for Season 18 with Pompeo.
Prior to Season 17, Pompeo told Variety that it may be end of of Grey’s Anatomy, “I mean, this is the last year of my contract right now. I don’t know that this is the last year? But it could very well could be.” Executive producer Krista Vernoff echoed what Pompeo said and told the outlet that she was planning for a season and a series finale because the show was in limbo.
Pompeo, also a producer of the show, is the highest paid female actor on TV. Grey’s Anatomy is the longest-running primetime medical drama in TV history.
ABC has also renewed Station 19, a spinoff to Grey’s Anatomy, for a fifth season. They are ABC’s most-watched scripted shows.
