Meredith’s Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Appearance Confirmed By Director & Star

Actor, executive producer, and director Debbie Allen has confirmed Meredith’s appearance in Grey’s Anatomy season 20. Ellen Pompeo’s titular Meredith Grey left for Boston in season 19, along with her three kids, to focus on her children’s education. Though it was mentioned that Pompeo would occasionally reprise her long-running role, even as the actor turned her attention to other projects, the scheduling fallout from the writers’ and actors’ strikes made Pompeo’s exact involvement unknown.

While attending the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington D.C., Allen confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that Pompeo would appear as Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy season 20, debuting March 14, 2024, on ABC. Allen, who plays Dr. Catherine Avery and serves as the executive producer, mentioned that Meredith is a part of the premiere episode and at least one more appearance which Allen will be directing. Read the quote below:

Miss Thing is there, honey. She’s in the first episode, and she’s in the one I’m gonna direct, so she won’t be too far. I mean, we have to let her go and do some other things, but she’s still our queen. She’s still our No. 1 on the call sheet.

Pompeo’s Main Cast Member Exit, Explained

Pompeo’s departure from the series is not final, as stressed by Allen. She’ll continue to narrate the episodes, in addition to coming back for occasional appearances. Pompeo stressed this on social media, promising that Meredith would still visit. The actor also remains involved with the ABC show as an executive producer, but in interviews, she discussed the need to do something new and try different things.

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Pompeo has already booked her next role. She’ll lead the currently untitled Hulu limited series that’s based on a true story, which centers on Ukranian-born Natalia Grace and her adoptive parents, who claimed she was an adult sociopath pretending to be a child. The planned show, which is set to co-star Fantastic Beasts actor Imogen Reid, may echo the Orphan horror movies, but the real story goes in a much different direction.

The adoptive parents, Kristine and Michael Barnett, were charged with neglect after abandoning Natalia. Most of the charges were ultimately dropped, with Natalia denying the couple’s claims that she was an adult attempting to con them. The series promises to be an entirely different experience than the soapy medical thrills of Grey’s Anatomy, but Pompeo will still make at least a few appearances as Meredith in the upcoming episodes for season 20.