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‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 19: Fans May See Less of Meredith at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital

Looks like Dr. Grey will be scrubbing in a lot less at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

According to Deadline, Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo will have less screen time in season 19. In season 18, Meredith Grey made the decision to stay in Seattle and not move to Minnesota. She will now serve as the new interim Chief of Surgery.

Though Dr. Grey is staying at Grey Sloan, apparently Pompeo is pursuing other projects outside of the medical show. As a result, the 52-year-old actress is set to appear in only eight episodes of Grey’s Anatomy season 19.

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Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

The reason for the scale-back? She will star in and executive produce the Hulu limited series Orphan, which is inspired by the 2009 horror flick. It’s based on the true story of a Midwestern couple who claimed their adopted daughter was an adult sociopath pretending to be a child.

Back in May, Pompeo teased her future in the long-running medical drama. In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight, she was asked whether or not she could see the show going on without her.

At the time, Pompeo gave a vague answer, saying, “We’ll see, we’ll see. Trying to reinvent the show and continually trying to reinvent the show is the challenge at this point, and listen, the show speaks to a lot of people, and the young people love the show.”

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Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images

She added, “It’s inspired so many generations of healthcare workers. So, I think for the young people, it’s a really good piece of content and we’re going to try to keep it going for the young people—not necessarily with me, but keep it going beyond me.”

Even though Pompeo isn’t leaving the show, we’re still going to miss Meredith Grey as a main character.

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Assistant Editor, News And Entertainment

Karelle McKay is the Assistant Editor of News and Entertainment at PureWow. Before she started writing about all things pop culture, she was a literal couch potato who loved...