‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Creator Shonda Rhimes Admits She’s Already Tried Writing Series’ Ending Several Times

With season 18 underway, many fans are wondering how much longer Grey’s Anatomy can continue. Show creator Shonda Rhimes opened up to Variety in a new interview, explaining that she has written the ending of the medical drama several times but nothing ever stuck. 

“I’ve written the end of that series, I want to say, a good eight times,” Rhimes explained. “I was like, ‘And that will be the end!’ Or, ‘That’ll be the final thing that’s ever said or done!’ And all of those things have already happened. So I give up on that, you know what I mean?”

Rhimes stepped back as showrunner several years ago and handed the reins to Krista Vernoff, so she isn’t even sure if the show’s ending is up to her anymore. “Am I going to be the person who decides like what the final scene is? I don’t know!” she admitted. However, the Bridgerton creator will have the final say on when the doors of Grey Sloan Memorial close for good. “Am I the person who decides when the show is over? Yes. And I take full responsibility for that when or if everybody gets mad at me,” Rhimes said. 

Star Ellen Pompeo has hinted that the show could be coming to a close sooner rather than later, but she explained to that she hasn’t felt that the time was right quite yet. “I mean, I’ve been trying to get away for years,” Pompeo joked on the Emmy Awards red carpet. “I have been trying. It’s not because I haven’t been trying. I have strong relationships at the network and they have been very, very good to me, and have incentivized me to stay.” Somehow, they haven’t run out of disasters quite yet either. “Miraculously, we keep coming up with ways to have a reason to stay and if there’s a reason, that warrants it,” Pompeo said.