Now nearly a year removed from his GreysAnatomy exit, Jesse Williams opens up about what made him decide to leave in the first place: 'I needed to get out of my comfort zone, I needed to go into a very unknown place.'
Former Grey's Anatomy star Jesse Williams explains the reason behind his season 17 exit. Currently, the long-running ABC medical drama is in its 18th season and shows no signs of slowing down. Despite comments from leading lady Ellen Pompeo last year that indicated Grey's Anatomy could be reaching its end, ABC renewed the series for season 19, though its future beyond that is unclear.
Though departing doctors are nothing new for Grey's Anatomy, it's still always a shock when one of the core members of the team decide to leave. The biggest of the show's most recent exiting stars has to be Williams, who played pretty boy plastic surgeon Jackson Avery from season 6 through season 17. Williams left Grey's Anatomy last year; on the show, Jackson decided to move to Boston so he could take a more hands-on approach to the Catherine Fox Foundation.
“I knew that as I designed my exit, the next thing I did had to be terrifying. I needed to get out of my comfort zone, I needed to go into a very unknown place.” Playing the same character on a television show for over 10 years is bound to produce some mixed reactions. While some, like Pompeo and Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay, seem content to build upon their beloved personas, others often acknowledge that newer opportunities are too enticing. For Williams, playing Jackson must've been like second nature to him by the time his Grey's Anatomy run was over. He was ready for something new, so he decided to make it happen.
As Jackson is one of the few Grey's Anatomy characters to make it off the show alive, there's always a chance he could return for another appearance down the line. Williams has said he would consider it, and if Grey's Anatomy really does live on for several more years, there should be ample time to fit him in. Fans were sad to lose Jackson, but Williams seems content with the decision he made. At the end of the day, that's really all that matters.