After a season filled with returns to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, including appearances from Patrick Dempsey and T.R. Knight, another beloved cast member is making the opposite journey—departing Grey’s Anatomy. Jesse Williams, who has played Dr. Jackson Avery for 12 seasons on the long-running medical drama, will exit the show ahead of its season finale, Deadline reports. His final episode, titled “Tradition,” is set to air on May 20.
“I will forever be grateful for the boundless opportunities provided me by Shonda [Rhimes], the network, studio, fellow castmates, our incredible crew, Krista [Vernoff], Ellen [Pompeo], and Debbie [Allen],” Williams said in a statement to the outlet. “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.”
Williams’s departure was teed up in Thursday night’s episode, “Look Up Child,” when his longtime love interest and ex-wife, April (Sarah Drew), returned. (Drew left the series in 2018, alongside Jessica Capshaw.) In the episode Jackson revealed his plans to move to Boston in order to lead his family’s foundation and fight for “real racial equity in medicine.” He urged April and their daughter, Harriet, to move from Seattle to Boston as well. In the end April shared that she and her husband, Matthew (Justin Bruening), had split, signaling a possible reconciliation with Jackson.
Williams’s exit coincides with the end of his current two-year contract, which he signed in 2019 with the intent to roll back his Grey’s duties. At the time he was set to star in Broadway’s Take Me Out beginning in April 2020. His Broadway debut was delayed by the pandemic, but Williams recently directed episodes of Grey’s and Rebel in addition to producing the Oscar-winning live-action short Two Distant Strangers. Next up, he’ll star in the Amazon film Marked Man alongside Winston Duke.
Williams, who joined the show in season six, is the second cast member to leave Grey’s this season. Giacomo Gianniotti’s character, Andrew DeLuca, died in the March 11 episode, following six years on the show. The only remaining original cast members in the Grey’s universe are Pompeo, Chandra Wilson, and James Pickens Jr.—all of whom are working on new deals ahead of an expected season 18, per Deadline. Other stars to have notably departed the series include Dempsey, Knight, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, Justin Chambers, Sara Ramirez, and Eric Dane.
“Jesse Williams is an extraordinary artist and activist. Watching his evolution these past 11 years both onscreen and off has been a true gift,” Grey’s Anatomy executive producer and showrunner Vernoff said in a statement to Deadline. “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.”
All products featured on Vanity Fair are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
— After Jen Shah’s Arrest, How Can We Keep Enjoying Real Housewives?
— Barry Jenkins on Bringing The Underground Railroad to TV
— How Swimming With Sharks Tried to Warn Us About Scott Rudin
— Quil Lemons’s 2021 Vanity Fair Oscar Portraits
— Andrew McCarthy on Pretty in Pink and the Brat Pack
— The 2021 Oscar Ceremony Was a Noble, Doomed Experiment
— Elliot Page Finally Feels “Able to Just Exist”
— From the Archive: The Unsinkable Jennifer Aniston
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.
"Exit" - Google News
May 07, 2021 at 09:18PM
https://ift.tt/3f3fBvm
Another Grey’s Anatomy Exit: Jesse Williams Departs the Series After 12 Seasons - Vanity Fair
"Exit" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2zNkU0N
https://ift.tt/2YrnuUx
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Another Grey’s Anatomy Exit: Jesse Williams Departs the Series After 12 Seasons - Vanity Fair"
Post a Comment