Not quite ready to walk away! Ellen Pompeo has been talking about her exit from Grey’s Anatomy, but in a new interview, it appears she might have had a change of heart.
“I keep saying, ‘I’m ready to move on and I want to stop the show before the ratings go down,’ but the ratings never go down!” the Law & Order alum, 49, told TV Line in an interview published on Wednesday, January 16. “They go down a little bit, but the fact that we are able to hold our [title as ABC’s No. 1 series] is kind of [incredible]. It’s very cool to have these kind of ratings and be on a hit network show in this [Peak TV] landscape.”
Pompeo — who stars as Dr. Meredith Grey on the long-running ABC medical drama — also admitted she has it good.
“It’s [a] pretty nice place to work,” Pompeo told the outlet. “I like my situation here. As much as the idea of something new appeals to me… the truth is I have three kids. I don’t really want to travel and leave [them]. I don’t want to be a circus traveler and live in hotels. And the network and studio continue to incentivize me and just make me offers that I can’t refuse.”
Pompeo — who signed a two-year, $20 million deal to continue with the show last January — seemingly hinted in September that she would be exiting the beloved series when her contract ends.
“I’m clearly not prepared right now to make any kind of formal announcement about what my future is on the show, but I am really feeling like we have told the majority of the stories we can tell,” she told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “It’s about time that I mix it up. I’m definitely looking for a change.”
However, she had a different tone when she appeared on Ellen DeGeneres‘ show the following month, noting she isn’t “completely obligated to do season 16,” but that she’s “gotta keep doing it” because “we’re touching lives and making a difference.”
