‘Grey’s Anatomy’: 10 Most Shocking Cast Exits

Grey’s Anatomy fans are used to saying goodbye to fan favorite characters at this point and tonight’s milestone episode, which will surpass ER as the longest running medical drama, will most likely follow suit.

Fourteen seasons in on ABC‘s hit medical drama, we have seen many stars come and go. Some leave to find new stories elsewhere, others meet tragic deaths that blow fans’ minds away. But as used as fans might be of Grey’s Anatomy‘s revolving door of characters, finding out about the next exit is always painful.

Many Grey’s fans sounded off their sadness Thursday when news broke that the series would be saying goodbye to Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) and April Kepner (Sarah Drew) at the end of the current season, and are now left to wonder how the characters will depart the series.

It’s been a few seasons since a major character has been killed off the long-running medical series, fans will have to wait and see what fate befalls the fan favorite doctors.

Scroll through to see some of the most shocking Grey’s Anatomy cast exits to date.

PATRICK DEMPSEY

We still haven’t recovered from Derek Shepherd’s death. Patrick Dempsey’s character was killed off the show after a tragic car accident during season 11.

Dr. Shepherd had been half of the show’s central coupe with Ellen Pompeo‘s Meredith Grey, and despite being the show’s most shocking death, the change actually revitalized the series and brought a major ratings bump to the series.

Sandra Oh

Oh played Dr. Cristina Yang since the first season of the series.

Yang, who was Meredith Grey’s best friend exited the series following the end of season 10. Cristina moved to Europe to run a hospital after her ex-boyfriend Dr. Preston Burke returned to offer her the job.

Jerrika Hinton

Hinton played Stephanie Edwards from season 9 to 13. The character was written out in the season 14 finale after being badly burned in a hospital fire.

The actress is now a series regular in Alan Ball’s HBO series Here & Now.

Martin Henderson

Henderson joined Grey’s as a regular in season 12 after leading man Dempsey’s departure. He played the role of Nathan Riggs, a doctor who had a history with Owen (Kevin McKidd) and who became an eventual love interest to Meredith Grey.

Nathan was written out early in season 14 as he moved to L.A. with Owen’s sister, Megan Hunt, who had been presumed dead before the season 13 finale.

Eric Dane

Dane played Dr. Mark Sloan, Derek’s best friend. He initially arrived as a recurring character in season 2 and quickly became a fan favorite character.

He had relationships with Addison (Kate Walsh) and Callie (Ramirez) before falling in love with Lexie (Chyler Leigh). He ultimately died after injuries sustained in the plane crash, dying in the beginning of season 9.

Chyler Leigh

Perhaps more heartbreaking than Mark’s death was that of the love of his life Lexie Grey.

Leigh played Meredith’s younger half-sister. She arrived as one of the new interns at the end of season 3 and was written out of the show at the end of season 8 when she became the first victim of the deadly plane crash.

Katherine Heigl

Heigl’s Izzie Stevens was one of the original interns on Grey’s Anatomy.

The doctor had a tendency to get too attached to her patients, leading one of the show’s most heartbreaking storylines after she falls in love with Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Denny Duquette and sees him die.

Heigl made headlines for being critical that she wasn’t given sufficient material, a season after winning an Emmy award for her performance on the show. Later her character marries Alex Karen (Justin Chambers), gets cancer and was written off the show in season six after she’s fired during the hospital merger with Mercy West.

Sara Ramirez

Ramirez played groundbreaking bisexual character Callie Torres for 10 seasons. She exited the Shondaland drama following the season 12 finale.

After a custody battle with ex-wife Arizona (Capshaw), the latter realizes that “they did this wrong” and offers a joint custody arrangement for their daughter, Sofia. Callie and her daughter then move to New York to join Callie’s new girlfriend Penny.

T.R. Knight

Knight played George O’Malley, another one of the original interns on the series. The lovable doctor had relationships with Ozzie, Callie and Meredith.

After requesting an early end to his contract, Knight was killed off the series after George gets hit by a bus on his way to tell his mother he was enlisting in the army.

Isaiah Washington

Washington’s Preston Burke was an original attending surgeon on the series.

After a series of on-set clashes with Patrick Dempsey and T.R. Knight, Washington was let go from the series after Burke leaves Cristina Yang at the altar at the end of season three.

He made a special appearance in season 10 to help wrap up Cristina’s storyline ahead of her exit from the series.