If you're a Grey's Anatomy fan, there's some disappointing news coming from the show's biggest star, Ellen Pompeo.
Pompeo, who has portrayed Dr. Meredith Grey since the series premiered in 2005, recently sat down for a chat with Entertainment Weekly. She hinted that she may soon be stepping away from the show that made her the highest paid dramatic actress on television.
The Golden Globe nominee's $575,000 per episode deal (approximately $20 million a year) will come to an end in 2020, after the series airs its 16th season. From her latest interview, it seems like she isn't planning to sign another contract as she is ready for a "change."
"I'm clearly not prepared right now to make any formal announcement about what my future is on the show, but I am really feeling like we have told the majority of the stories that we can tell," the 48-year-old explained.
"I'm really excited to do some new things, it's about time that I mix it up and I'm really excited about my producing career, and I'm definitely looking for a change."
Pompeo, a mother-of-three, also shared that she wants to spend more time with her kids as they grow and taking on fewer projects will help her do that.
"My children are getting older so I want to be more available to them now. I can't be an absentee mom if they're teenagers, I have to be around to whip their butts," she jokingly said. "So it's definitely time for change in my life. I'm really looking forward to it and that's the beauty of my situation."
Just because she's considering leaving the highly-rated medical drama, Pompeo wants fans to know that it doesn't mean she no longer loves it.
She explained:
"I have definitely played this out for everything that I possibly could," she said of her time on the show. "I've given it 200 percent of my energy and my love and my time and my commitment and my dedication.I still am fighting every day to make everything surrounding this show, the quality of the show, the storytelling, I'm still fighting for everything I can, for the quality to be good, for the actors to be happy, whether that's well received or not.
I still care very much about the show and I think that it takes a lot of energy. So at some point I have to wrap it up."
So what would Pompeo's departure mean for Grey's Anatomy?
Well, at this time, it's difficult to predict what will become of the long-running show, but fans should be prepared to say goodbye.
This isn't the first time that Pompeo has touched on when she sees the television drama coming to an end. Shortly after her costars Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew left the show, Pompeo was interviewed back in May saying that the end is near.
"We're getting there. Shonda and I will make that decision together," she told Us Weekly exclusively. "I think that one of the biggest lessons that this show has taught me and being on this show for so long has taught me, is that relationships do change."