When Grey's Anatomy began its generational run on ABC over 20 years ago, fans fell in love with the medical drama series and the point of view of Meredith Grey. Over the years, we have grown with Ellen Pompeo's iconic character and watched as she has experienced all of the ups and downs (to put it lightly) in her personal life and career. But she has appeared less and less in the show.
Beginning with Grey's Anatomy season 19 in 2022, Pompeo began to reduce her screen time as Meredith Grey, while still lending her voice as the narrator of each episode. Pompeo took her first new acting role outside of Grey's since 2005, leading the 2025 Hulu limited series Good American Family, and has since still pulled back on how many episodes she appears in each season.
As each season of Grey's Anatomy ends and another's set to begin, fans undeniably always have one burning question outside of any of the loose narrative threads: How many episodes will Ellen Pompeo appear in this time around? Ahead of the season 23 premiere on ABC this fall, the show's boss has shared some insight on what to expect from Pompeo's involvement in the new season.
Ellen Pompeo's Grey's Anatomy season 23 episode count hasn't been determined
While talking with The Hollywood Reporter following the season 22 finale, showrunner Meg Marinis responded to the outlet's line of questioning about whether Pompeo would be featured in more episodes than usual as of late or if she would continue with a limited number of episodes. Unfortunately, the exact number is still to be determined but should be similar to season 22.
As Marinis said, the breakdown of Pompeo's role each season is a behind-the-scenes discussion with the actress, ABC, and Disney: "That’s between her and the studio and the network right now. I don’t think anything has officially been decided, but from my end of things I think it’s going to be similar."
Based on Marinis' comments, Pompeo's episode count is determined ahead of time and factored into the writing process rather than the other way around. Locking in how many episodes she will appear in will certainly help with plotting Meredith's storyline for Grey's Anatomy season 23, especially since after the season 22 finale, this could be one of the biggest season's for Meredith yet.
Following Nick's injury and emergency surgery, Meredith realized she wanted to get married and proposed to him once he was in recovery. Marinis also didn't confirmed whether Meredith and Nick's wedding would take place in season 23 but teased that because "she is not a wedding kind of girl," the ceremony and reception would be very on brand for her and Nick.
Along with Pompeo's limited episode count, the Grey's Anatomy writers also have to contend with Scott Speedman's availability being even more limited. The actor leads the cast of ABC's procedural RJ Decker, which was renewed for a second season. Rather than airing in midseason, the network has called up the new hit to the fall schedule on Tuesday nights.
Still, Marinis promises that she and the writers love both Pompeo and Speedman and "want as much as we can get of them." Whether that means seven or eight episodes—or even less—like normal for Pompeo remains to be seen, but we will more than likely found out the exact number ahead of the season 23 premiere or when the episodes begin rolling out.
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