Pompeo stepped back to be a recurring cast member in the new season -- but she was in the building for Thursday's premiere.
The doctors were back in for the season 20 premiere of Grey's Anatomy on Thursday -- and a familiar face was still there with them.
Longtime series star Ellen Pompeo announced last year that she would be stepping back from the show and appearing only as a recurring star in season 20, leaving some fans to wonder why she was featured in the promos for the upcoming season. However, the reason quickly became clear.
The episode, titled "We've Only Just Begun," picked up immediately following the events of the season 19 finale, meaning Pompeo's Dr. Meredith Grey had not yet left for Boston to pursue her Alzheimer's reach -- and was instead in the thick of yet another disorderly day at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital while facing a potential threat to her happy ever after.
After a chaotic night for the interns ends with all of their jobs in jeopardy, Dr. Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman) is unsure if he can leave the program behind and go with Meredith to Boston. Not only that, but the Grey Sloan family is thrown into turmoil after Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) collapses during a surgery and is rushed into her own series of life-saving procedures.
Meredith finds herself trying to make nice with Dr. Catherine Avery (Debbie Allen) after throwing her benefit the night before into chaos when she announced that she planned to pursue alternative causes of Alzheimer's -- not just the ones Catherine was helping to fund her to research.
However, she's pulled away when a self-driving car traps two of the interns in an ambulance with a dying man -- talking them through complicated procedures through an open window -- and even ends up scrubbing in herself to save the victim's life when they are finally freed.
By episode's end, things settle enough for Meredith to finally be ready to make her move. Teddy pulls through, the interns are all staying, and Nick is ready to leave for Boston -- with seasoned intern wrangler Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) stepping in to take his place.
Wilson teased ET about Pompeo's departure on the red carpet at the 2023 Emmys, where some of the cast -- including Katherine Heigl -- reunited onstage to present an award together.
"I said Meredith isn't going anywhere," she joked. "I don't know why they're talking about leaving and going to Boston. Meredith is right there on Grey's Anatomy."
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. PT/ET on ABC.
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