At the beginning of the month, it was announced that Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew will be exiting Grey’s Anatomy at the end of this season. As someone who is a Grey’s Anatomy fanatic—I’ve seen the entire thing (yes, every episode) four times and am currently working my way through it again—I felt like this was a move that was half expected and half shocking.
Jessica Capshaw plays Dr. Arizona Robbins and entered the show during season five. We know her mostly for being Callie’s ex-wife and losing her leg in that plane crash episode that rocked all of us to her core. Robbins has had her fair share of emotional turmoil throughout the past nine seasons and a host of love affairs. It does not surprise me that she is being written off. Her character cannot grow any further and other than acting as a filler, she doesn’t contribute to the story line like she once did. With the exit of Sara Ramierz, the actress who played Dr. Callie Torres, Arizona’s character became very one-dimensional. While her character is beloved by many, this is a smart move because nothing is worse than keeping a character who is no longer needed.
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On the other hand, Sarah Drew, who plays Dr. April Kepner, being written off was something that I never saw coming. Kepner is known for her devout faith and her relationship with Dr. Jackson Avery (long live Japril). Until recently, it seemed that nothing could shake Kepner’s faith. With the loss of her ex-fiancé’s wife we saw the start of her crisis of faith and I was so excited for the depth that this would add to her character. I was expecting this to take Kepner to another level and make her even more relatable to viewers, but with the announcement of her being written off we have seen more of a shift to her spinning out and making careless mistakes.
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While no formal reason has been given for why Capshaw and Drew are being written off, Shonda Rhimes, Capshaw, and Drew all released statements about the exits. I guess the only thing left to do is watch and find out how they make their exits.