SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Episodes 1914 and 1915 of Grey’s Anatomy, which aired April 13.
In a two-episode arc tonight, Grey’s Anatomy bid farewell to Maggie Pierce, as Kelly McCreary, who has played Meredith Grey’s (Ellen Pompeo) half-sister and head of the hospital’s cardiothoracic surgery since the end of Season 10, is leaving the long-running medical drama.
The episodes chronicled Maggie’s last day at Grey Sloan and her departure for her new job in Chicago. Compared to Meredith, who got a big going-away party, Maggie’s sendoff was more subdued, but she had heartfelt goodbye scenes with several longtime surgeons, most notably her dad Richard who gave her a present: a business-card holder shaped like the bench they sat on when he found out she was his daughter.
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Maggie and Winston pulled off one last medical miracle together, teaming to save a woman with a giant tumor near her heart. They also rekindled their passion, spending Maggie’s last night in Seattle together. But they remained on separate tracks, and he aced the follow-up surgery on the patient with the removed tumor alone, declining Maggie’s help.
“I love you, but I have to go,” Maggie told Winston in the duo’s farewell conversation.
“I love you, too. But I have to stay,” replied Winston.
The two didn’t have a proper goodbye as Winston turned around and left when he saw Maggie hugging her dad goodbye.
Will they see each other again and maybe get closure when Maggie returns to Grey Sloan later this season? In an interview with Deadline, McCreary teases her upcoming guest appearance, revealing that it will be during the Season 19 finale, which also will mark Pompeo’s return to the show. McCreary explains why she decided to leave Grey’s Anatomy after nine seasons and how Maggie and Winston’s storyline in the Season 18 finale — when she questioned whether the two did not marry too quickly — influenced that decision. She discusses Maggie’s story arc this season, the disintegration of her marriage to Winston after a string of failed previous relationships, and ultimately her choosing her career and leaving Seattle. McCreary also reflects on her years on Grey’s, reveals the last scene she shot, addresses whether she would return to the show next season and beyond and what is next for her — and for Maggie.
You can take a look at Maggie’s journey on Grey’s, from her arrival to tonight’s farewell, in the retrospective video above.
DEADLINE: When did you decide to leave Grey’s Anatomy after so many years and why?
MCCREARY: Well, it was a lot of years but specifically at the end of Season 18, Maggie and Winston were at this challenging crisis, and I just kept thinking about how the show really is about people showing up at the hospital and growing up and learning a lot of hard lessons and becoming the best version of themselves and then at some point, for whatever reason, the actors and characters move on, usually after a pretty long period of time.
Maggie came here on a very specific mission; she came to Seattle, to Grey Sloan, to know more about her family — and by extension herself — and every season I asked that question, has Maggie figured out what she wants, does she have a new question? I wondered if the struggles she was facing, the compatibility questions she was having with her husband were really questions about herself and who she really was and what she really wanted, and I thought, maybe that’s a sign that it’s time for her to move on. And so I went to [showrunner] Krista [Vernoff] and I said, “I think it’s I think it’s time for Maggie to move on.”
DEADLINE: When you told the producers that you’d be leaving, did you know that Ellen Pompeo also would be leaving in Season 19?
MCCREARY: No, I didn’t know that.
DEADLINE: Did you have an input into Maggie’s exit arc? Did you ask for a heroic death like those of many major Grey’s characters?
MCCREARY: Well, I knew I might be throwing a wrench into their plans with the request so I was open to anything. I was like, “Look, if you’ve got to kill me I get it, tragic things happen to Meredith’s friends and family all the time, so if that’s where we have to go out, I understand.” But they have something else in mind, and I think it really is in keeping with with the journey that Maggie has been on, which is growing into more and more of herself as she discovers who that is. I always wondered if there was a part of her that forgot her youthful ambition, forgot her youthful genius or youthful talent and might have that reawakened in her. So, it wasn’t my idea for her to go out the way that she did but I was consulted on the pitch, and I thought it was a great idea. I was really happy with that.
DEADLINE: Maggie has always been career-driven and a perfectionist. Talk about her decision to choose career over love. It must have been heart-wrenching.
MCCREARY: It was definitely heart-wrenching. I think it was heart-wrenching mostly because she wanted to be different, but, like you said, she always was ultimately fueled by this passion for medicine, for science. I think it’s just disappointing that you can’t be all the things and do all the things you want in life, not at the same time at least. So yeah, I think, as the perfectionist that she is, it’s heartbreaking to have failed at it. And it’s heartbreaking to not be able to do all the things that you say you’re going to do. But I think that there’s still hope it might come around and maybe once Maggie figures out this ambition thing, maybe she can be settled and happy in love someday down the road in some other universe.
DEADLINE: When are you coming back to Grey’s this season? And since Winston and Maggie didn’t have a formal goodbye, will they get closure when you return?
MCCREARY: Maggie will appear again. And she and Winston will talk some more, I’ll put it that way.
DEADLINE: Is long-distance relationship in the cards for those two?
MCCREARY: I honestly don’t know. But what I think is really great is that these two characters shared this enormous success. And Winston has the opportunity to build from that too. I think they both might have an awakening of their ambition. So I can’t say because I don’t know, but I think that they’re both set on a positive course because of the work they did together.
DEADLINE: You mentioned Maggie and Winston’s work together. They performed two miraculous surgeries this season. After the first one where they saved a little baby, they had one of their fights and then in Episode 14 tonight, after removing a giant tumor, they went home together, showing everyone that they still have love for each other. Talk about that juxtaposition and the couple’s relationship we watched deteriorate in real time over the season.
MCCREARY: I think the short answer to that question is that it’s not all one thing, it’s not all wonderful, and it’s not all bad, this relationship and these people in this dynamic. Some parts of it really, really work, in some ways they’re each other’s best match, and in other ways they’re not. And so, like in any relationship, it’s a question of, do you want to stay connected? Do you want to keep working on it or not? I think it’s very painful for them to both say that at this moment they want to work on other things — or Maggie wants to work on something else — but not because there isn’t a lot of love, not because there isn’t a desire to have it all. It’s just that it’s impossible. It’s impossible for them to have it all given that they both really want different things at this moment.
DEADLINE: How was it for you to play that out this season, sinking further and further, with no salvation for the relationship, including the gut-wrenching scene between Maggie and Richard last month when she asked him “How did you know?“, maybe sensing that it was over for her and Winston?
MCCREARY: I think Maggie has always had self-doubt when it comes to her relationships; she has not really known how to do it. So I think it’s a genuine question, it isn’t like, is this over or is this something you can work through? She doesn’t know, she doesn’t have the experience, she doesn’t have a history of having resilient relationships. It’s sad — I’m referring to the scene with Maggie and Richard — it feels sad, but it really is a request for help. I think ultimately, she would want to make it better if she could. And that’s why there is still love between them. If it could go any other way, they would try it but it’s just not in the cards at this moment.
DEADLINE: What was the final scene you filmed (in this episode, since you’re coming back)? What happened after? Were there hugs, tears?
MCCREARY: Well, the last scene that I shot had been kicked down the schedule a couple of weeks because of the weather, the rain that we had this winter and other issues that had come up and made things move because it was an outdoor scene; it was the scene with Caterina [Scorsone] who plays Amelia at the coffee cart. And because it had kept getting rescheduled and kicked down the schedule, it made the departure really stretched out.
It kind of caught everybody by surprise that it was the last scene because it was just like, we finally got the scene on the calendar, let’s shoot it. And then it was over so yes, there was a very sudden emotional outburst at the end because I don’t think anybody really realized how quickly it would go and the magnitude of it. And, like you said, I am going back to shoot scenes in the finale so it didn’t really feel that final. It’s definitely the end of a story arc but I’ll be back for the finale, but yes, there was a lot of hugging.
DEADLINE: It’s funny that Maggie’s relationships were not very strong, but you found love on the show and have a beautiful baby and a husband whom you met on Grey’s. Looking back at your and Maggie’s journey, what will you miss the most about being on the show?
MCCREARY: It feels like leaving your hometown, it feels like moving away from home. I was there for nine years and those folks are my teammates, my family, my community, my first community in L.A. — I more or less moved here for the job from New York. So it’s definitely the end of something that’s really special. Like you said, I have had a lot of life lived in the last nine years. And so, in many ways, it feels like I grew up there, growing to my womanhood. I’m a different person than I was when I started; I’m certainly a different actor than I was when I started. I’m a mom, I’m a wife. A lot of life happened in that time, and all of those people were there with me, the cast and the crew and everything.
DEADLINE: What is next for you? And would you come back occasionally to reprise your role next season and beyond since Maggie’s not dead?
MCCREARY: She’s not dead, and she’s still got family and friends in Seattle so if they want me to come, I would humbly and gratefully run over because, like I said, this story arc has closed but she’s still deeply connected to Seattle and to the Grey Sloan family so the door is certainly open on my end.
Next for me is a little bit of rest and then seeking out opportunities to play some different characters using all of the tools and experiences I’ve had and collaboration and world-building, building Maggie’s world out on Grey’s. It’s been an incredible place to play all kinds of things, comedy, drama, a little bit of action, a little bit of satire; we’ve had everything on the show, so I’ve had a little taste of a lot of different things I want to do going forward. Definitely suspense, definitely some thriller moments. I’ve had the opportunity to dip my toe in a lot of waters that I would love to dive in later.
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