Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo makes sad admission about series that fans won't be happy about

US actor Ellen Pompeo made a rather controversial comment about the future of hit show Grey's Anatomy.

And let's just say, fans are not going to be best pleased about it...

For those who need a little reminder, television star Pompeo played lead star Meredith Grey in the much-loved ABC medical drama until 2023.

The now 54-year-old starred alongside fellow huge-name actors, including the likes of Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh.

She departed the series - which first launched back in 2005 - after 18 years when her character Meredith Grey was written out, saying goodbye to her colleagues at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and setting up a new life in Boston with her family.

Pompeo has since returned on several sporadic occasions as flashbacks, and has maintained her role as Grey's Anatomy's signature voiceover - as well as remaining a producer.

You'd imagine the actor would, therefore, have an emotional attachment to the long-standing series, and would dread the thought of it coming to an end.

The actor played lead star Meredith Grey in the much-loved ABC medical drama (Dia Dipasupil / Staff / Getty)

However, the former frontwoman told Insider in 2021 that she's been 'trying to focus on convincing everybody that it should end'.

Speaking to the outlet, she added, however, that bosses are reluctant to shut the series down after almost 20 years, despite her pushing for it.

"​I feel like I'm the super naive one who keeps saying, 'But what's the story going to be, what story are we going to tell?'" she told the publication.

"And everyone's like, 'Who cares, Ellen? It makes a gazillion dollars.'"

This isn't the first time that the on-screen favourite has opened up about her hopes and plans for Grey's Anatomy.

Years before her shock departure in 2023, Pompeo appeared on live television where she discussed how she wanted Meredith Grey's final moments to look.

Speaking to James Corden on his now-defunct The Late Late Show in 2019, she hoped that the vast original cast - many of whom quit the series in the years prior to her own exit - would return to send her off in style.

Ellen Pompeo left the show in 2023 after 18 years (ABC)

"I mean, I’d love to have some of the old cast come back, the original cast is just like,” she began before putting her hand over her heart.

“But that probably won’t happen, but that would be the most amazing way to [end it].”

And when prompted by the TV host why she didn’t believe her hopes of a Grey's get-together could be achieved in reality, Pompeo quipped: "Some of them were killed on the show!"