Jesse Williams is leaving Grey’s Anatomy after this current season. The article contains spoilers about the episode that aired on May 6.
Jesse Williams / Instagram
Longtime member Jesse Williams, who has been on Grey’s Anatomy for 12 seasons is moving on. During Thursday’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, Jackson (Jesse Williams) visited his ex-wife April (Sarah Drew) and their three-year-old daughter Harriet. During the chat, he revealed that he no longer wants to continue his work at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Jackson says that he is ready to take over the family’s Catherine Fox Foundation. That would mean he would move to Boston.
On Thursday, ABC also announced Williams’ last episode. Jesse’s last episode on the show will be on the season finale’s episode titled “Tradition,” on May 20.
After the news broke out that Jesse Williams is leaving Grey’s Anatomy, executive producer and showrunner Krista Vernoff said in a statement to Deadline, “Jesse Williams is an extraordinary artist and activist. Watching his evolution these past 11 years both on screen and off has been a true gift. Jesse brings so much heart, such depth of care, and so much intelligence to his work. We will miss Jesse terribly and we will miss Jackson Avery — played to perfection for so many years.”
Sarah Drew will also return for the series finale. His ex-wife, April, will also be there to close Jackson’s arc.
Jesse said in a statement, “I will forever be grateful for the boundless opportunities provided me by Shonda [Rhimes], the network, studio, fellow castmates, our incredible crew, Krista, Ellen [Pompeo] and Debbie [Allen]. As an actor, director and person, I have been obscenely lucky to learn so much from so many and I thank our beautiful fans, who breathe so much energy and appreciation into our shared worlds. The experience and endurance born of creating nearly 300 hours of leading global television is a gift I’ll carry always. I am immensely proud of our work, our impact and to be moving forward with so many tools, opportunities, allies and dear friends.”
But Jesse has big plans coming on. He stars in the Amazon Prime movie Marked Man. He also has a Broadway play planned out called Take Me Out.
