ABC's Longest-Running Series' Cast Exodus Is About To Get Worse

Published Sep 29, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Antonella Gugliersi (she/them) has been a feature writer for Screen Rant since 2021. While studying for her bachelor’s in Economics & Management, they started writing about movies and TV shows for Turin-based The Unconventional Mag. After a brief internship at TPI, she decided she wanted to pursue journalism and graduated with a degree in International Journalism from Brunel University.

One historic ABC series that has already lost key characters may lose another one soon. For the 2026-2027 TV cycle, ABC renewed all its scripted TV series, a rare feat for network TV. Of those renewed, only a few were TV shows that debuted in the 2025-2026 TV season, with the vast majority either belonging to major franchises or having aired on the Disney-owned network for several years. All TV shows being renewed doesn’t mean that there weren’t any changes, as High Potential’s move to midseason proved. Similarly, but concerning a different aspect, Grey’s Anatomy lost some major characters.

Going on for two decades didn’t deter Grey’s Anatomy from being remarkable in terms of ratings. Many would have expected the medical drama to end when it lost most of its original characters, and yet, Grey’s Anatomy season 22 averaged 2.28 million live viewers during the 2025-2026 TV season, with that number growing to 6.80 million viewers who streamed Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s premiere in the 35 days following its release. Grey’s Anatomy is the only show to have spent 320 weeks on the Nielsen Streaming Top 10, and it was the second most-streamed title overall in 2024 and 2025.

Despite its longevity and undeniable success, Grey’s Anatomy could suffer setbacks with long-time characters leaving the medical drama. Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s finale functioning as a farewell episode for Teddy Altman and Owen Hunt forces Grey’s Anatomy season 23 to deal with the fallout of their exits. Another long-time character exit would be disastrous.

Grey's Anatomy Season 23 Will Deal With Owen & Teddy's Exit

The bridge collapse in Grey’s Anatomy season 22, episode 18 caused the story to focus on its victims, and in the context of Teddy and Owen’s exits, on when Teddy would learn about Owen surviving the tragedy and how that would impact the couple’s choices. The disaster proved the catalyst that Owen needed to realize what is important for him, definitively kickstarting Owen, Teddy, and their family’s move to Paris. Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s finale thus worked as a perfect happily ever after for the couple, and a tribute to the contributions Teddy and Owen gave to the medical drama.

This inevitably meant that Grey’s Anatomy didn’t have the chance to deal with the aftermath of Owen and Teddy’s exits, in the sense that the medical drama couldn’t tackle the consequences their departure would have on Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. It will be Grey’s Anatomy season 23’s duty to demonstrate how their exits impact all the other characters and the hospital. However, the consequences will be substantial, as their departure leaves Grey Sloan Memorial without one Chief of Surgery and another department head.

Going beyond their roles within the hospital, Owen and Teddy’s departures are momentous because Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver have been on the medical drama since 2008 and 2009, respectively. Despite not being part of Grey’s Anatomy from the very beginning, it still felt like they did, as they interacted with almost all of Grey’s Anatomy’s original characters. Their departures effectively leave only Webber, Bailey, and Meredith as original characters who are still part of Grey’s Anatomy’s story, making their exits feel like the end of an era.

Jo Is Having An Identity Crisis In Grey's Anatomy Season 23

DET Press

Among the shocking revelations of Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s finale, Jo choosing not to take the CREOG exam, thus delaying becoming an OB-GYN attending, ranked high. That Jo’s Grey’s Anatomy season 22 health scare might even stop her from practicing medicine was an even bigger reveal. According to Camilla Luddington, who has played Jo Wilson since 2012, the OB-GYN resident’s worries will be at the heart of her story in Grey’s Anatomy season 23.

Halfway through September 24’s episode of We Ride at Dawn(ish), the podcast co-hosted by Luddington and Jessica Capshaw, Luddington teased where Grey’s Anatomy season 23 finds Jo. Luddington explained that because Jo “has gone through a lot of birth trauma and it’s very triggering for her, you’re going to see a lot of Jo processing that.” Luddington went on to gush about an upcoming story in an episode being filmed now that is related to Jo’s dilemma, saying that she can’t share much about it as the episode won’t air until December 2026.

Link and Jo’s heart-to-heart in Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s finale already hinted at the possibility that Jo’s worries would be at the center of her season 23 story, because of how deeply affected Jo seemed throughout the episode. Luddington’s words nevertheless cement Jo’s worries as a full-on identity crisis, one that may very well push Jo away from medicine and Grey Sloan Memorial, eventually setting up Jo’s exit from Grey’s Anatomy if she realizes that she can’t cope.

Grey's Anatomy Cannot Stand To Lose Another Veteran Doctor

Credit: ABC via MovieStillsDB

While she might not have been at Grey Sloan Memorial since the beginning of Grey’s Anatomy, Jo Wilson is indubitably a veteran doctor on the medical drama. Jo grew professionally and personally in the years that she spent at Grey Sloan Memorial. Indeed, she became a fixture at the hospital, first as a surgical resident, then as a general surgery attending, and finally as an OB-GYN resident after she decided that she wanted to choose happiness, learning how to bring life into the world instead of saving lives, which meant seeing several people die.

Grey’s Anatomy truly made Jo Meredith’s replacement for what it forced her to go through. From Paul’s surprise arrival to finding out her biological parents’ story to losing Karev so absurdly, Jo withstood everything the medical drama threw at her. Giving birth to the twins in Grey’s Anatomy season 22 was only the last in a long list of trials that the medical drama put her through, one she will inevitably need time to overcome. Not succeeding would be a very sad ending to Jo’s story, as she worked so hard to become a surgeon.

Jo leaving medicine behind would also be incredibly difficult for Grey’s Anatomy as a whole. With so few long-time characters still at Grey Sloan Memorial, her exit could tip the medical drama over, especially if it happened so close to two other major character exits. Luddington herself shared on We Ride at Dawn(ish) how the series regular cast now is the smallest she has ever seen since starting to work on Grey’s Anatomy. Jo’s potential exit if she left medicine behind could make Grey’s Anatomy unrecognizable.

Jo struggling to come to terms with what she went through in Grey’s Anatomy season 22 doesn’t mean that it will necessarily lead to her exit. There are very high chances that season 23 spending so much time on that story will help Jo figure out how to move forward as a doctor. Even if it prompted her to leave OB-GYN, Jo wouldn’t have to leave Grey Sloan Memorial, as working through her problems might lead her back to general surgery. Either way, it will be interesting to see what Jo decides in Grey’s Anatomy season 23.

Source: We Ride at Dawn(ish)

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