ABC just offered the primary have a look at the season 23 forged of Grey’s Anatomy — but Ellen Pompeo is noticeably missing after booking a brand new show.
The network shared a set photo on Friday, July 24, that included Chris Carmack, Jen Landon, James Pickens Jr., Debbie Allen, Camilla Luddington, Niko Terho, Caterina Scorsone, Trevor Jackson, Adelaide Kane, Chandra Wilson, Harry Shum Jr., Alexis Floyd, Anthony Hill and Jason George.
Pompeo, 56, nonetheless, wasn’t within the group shot because the show picks production back up. The actress isn’t any longer the lead character, so it is probably going Meredith Grey (Pompeo) will show up later within the season.
The last time fans saw the fan-favorite character, she had gotten engaged to Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman). The fictional couple live in Boston, nonetheless, so Meredith has been out and in of the show since season 19.
Pompeo can be booked and busy after Deadline confirmed in June that she is going to appear in and executive produce Hulu‘s Chicks. The family comedy drama is predicated on an original idea from author Katie Robbins, who developed the concept “specifically” for Pompeo. It was inspired by conversations between the 2 on the set of their first show together, Hulu’s Good American Family.
“Chicks is about within the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of old Boston. It follows Chickie (Pompeo) and Doreen, two estranged half-sisters who’re each struggling to get by when their smart guy dad unexpectedly kicks the bucket,” read the official synopsis. “Their only inheritance is a legacy of two-bit crime that inspires them to run increasingly audacious frauds. As their con grows, so does their odd-couple bond, as they each begin to fill the father-shaped hole in the opposite’s heart.”
Production on Chicks will likely begin in September in Recent York. News of Pompeo’s next gig comes as ABC viewers await updates on who’s — and isn’t — returning for season 23 of Grey’s Anatomy.
Pompeo began playing Meredith in 2005 when Grey’s Anatomy premiered on ABC. After hinting at her exit for years, Pompeo confirmed in September 2022 that she would have a reduced role for season 19.
“I’m going to at all times be a component of that show,” she told Deadline on the time. “I’m an executive producer. I spent twenty years of my profession on [Grey’s Anatomy] — it’s my heart and soul. I’ll never truly be gone so long as [it’s] on the air.”
The actress starred in eight episodes that season before exiting the show as a series regular in 2023. “I’m only going to Boston, and you understand, I’ll probably be here next week,” Meredith told her friends and coworkers before boarding a plane together with her three children.
Grey’s Anatomy recently reduced the minimum guarantees for its veteran forged members to 14 out of the show’s 18 episodes per season. Some fan favorites didn’t appear in as many as 4 episodes each while Caterina Scorsone‘s absence was doubled after her character, Amelia Shepherd, selected to take a sabbatical.
Kim Raver and Kevin McKidd later exited the show, but it surely stays unclear whether there will likely be more characters who won’t return in season 23.
Despite the shakeups, ABC continues to be committed to the franchise, with the network ordering a derivative to Grey’s Anatomy, which will likely be set in rural West Texas. The upcoming series will likely be cocreated, written and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes and Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis. Pompeo can be executive producing the brand new offshoot, which can premiere midseason 2027.