‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 13 Updates: Sara Ramirez Quits Show for Good; Shonda Rhimes Addresses Past Departures

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ season 13 will no longer feature Sara Ramirez’ Dr. Callie Torres after the actress announced that she was exiting the medical drama series for good. Showrunner Shonda Rhimes also addressed prior cast departures including Sandra Oh and Patrick Dempsey.

According to Melty, Season 12 proved to be quite a whirlwind ride for Ramirez’s Dr. Callie Torres beginning with new girlfriend Penny Blake (Samantha Sloyan) joining her in Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Penny eventually wins a grant for New York and Callie decides to follow her there.

Subsequently, a custody battle ensues between Callie and her ex-spouse Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) over daughter Sofia. Despite Callie being Sofia’s biological mother, Arizona wins out in the end. Callie also breaks up with Penny.

The season finale found Callie deciding to leave for New York to be with Penny as well as making things right with Arizona to find a way for shared custody of Sophia.

Ramirez’ fictional departure on the popular television series translated to the off-screen when she announced that she was leaving ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ for good. The 40-year old Mexican-born actress joined the cast in season 2 and became a series regular from season 3 through season 12.

She posted a message on Instagram that read, “I’m deeply grateful to have spent the last 10 years with my family at Grey’s Anatomy and ABC, but for now I’m taking some welcome time off. Shonda’s been so incredible to work for, and we will definitely continue our conversations! I send my love to Ellen [Pompeo, Grey’s star], the rest of the cast and crew, and I look forward to always being a part of the Shondaland family!”

Showrunner Shonda Rhimes said that she only found out about Ramirez’ intention to exit the series only three days prior to the public announcement. According to Entertainment Weekly, Rhimes admitted, “This one was different because it wasn’t a big, planned thing… I had a different plan going, and when Sara came in and said, ‘I really need to take this break,’ I was lucky that we’d shot the end of the season with her going to New York.” However, Rhimes reassured her that she was glad for Ramirez and that there were no hard feelings.

She also addressed past departures including Sandra Oh and Patrick Dempsey, who played main characters Cristina Yang and Derek Shepherd. She said, “You grow and you change and you do a lot of things, but after a while you start to itch to do something new or you itch to take a break, and it’s not like they’re going to starve if they take a break. They’ve earned it.”

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is a long-running medial drama television series on ABC. Season 12 wrapped up on May 19, 2016. Season 13’s premiere is slated for fall but no announcement has been made on the season’s official release date.