‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Ellen Pompeo Confirmed to Return for Season 20

Grey’s Anatomy, and Ellen Pompeo will be coming back! After the actress surprisingly left the long-running medical drama during Season 19, she’s already come back a few times. Now, it seems like that will continue, which would make sense given the name of the series. Debbie Allen, who recurs on the series as Catherine Fox, told ET that Pompeo will definitely be returning for the upcoming season.

“Miss Thing is there, honey,” shared Allen. “The first episode is the one I’m going to direct, so she won’t be too far. We have to let her go and do some other things, but she’s still our queen. She’s still our number one.” Although it’s been hard to watch Grey’s without the Meredith Grey, the fact that ABC renewed it for another season after Pompeo’s exit shows that the series is doing just fine.

One of the reasons why Ellen Pompeo left Grey’s Anatomy is to focus on other projects. Prior to announcing her exit, she landed a role in a new Hulu limited series. She was initially announced to be stepping back from Grey’s, only to appear in just eight episodes of Season 19. Soon after, it was announced that Pompeo would indeed officially be departing from  after 19 seasons. There was always the likelihood that Pompeo’s exit in March wouldn’t be the last time she’d be on the series, as she did return for a couple more episodes in the season.

What will bring Meredith back to Grey Sloan Memorial is unknown, or perhaps things will kick off in Boston at the Fox Foundation. There’s also no confirmation that these episodes will be the only episodes Pompeo will be in. There will only be 10 episodes for Season 20 due to the strikes, which doesn’t give the series a lot of time to focus on everything. This would mean that Grey’s would likely be putting most of its focus on the current characters, but it can’t hurt to bring in Dr. Grey every once in a while. If it makes sense, at least.

Fans will just have to tune in to the premiere of Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 on Thursday, Mar. 14 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC to see what brings Meredith Grey back into the fold. The series will be following Fox-turned-ABC drama , and followed by Station 19. It’s going to be an action-packed night, and you won’t want to miss out on it.