ABC

“Grey’s Anatomy” fans: You’ll want to sit down for this.

Star Ellen Pompeo said that the team behind ABC’s stalwart medical drama is starting to think about its ending.

“Yes, we’re starting to think about how you would end a show this iconic,” Pompeo said in an interview with ET this week. “How do you end it? But we’re not there yet. We’re going to focus on season 15. We just take it one season at a time.”

Also Read: 'Grey's Anatomy' Star Kevin McKidd on How the Doctors Try to 'Clean Up' Harper Avery's Mess

“The show’s a tremendous money maker, let’s be honest. It makes a fortune for everybody and everyone wants to keep it going,” the actress continued. “Now, it’s sort of fun. We’re in a contest with ourselves. How long can we keep this going and still have this level of quality.”

For her part, Pompeo is locked into a $20 million per year salary through Season 16.

Pompeo also dropped some tea on how Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw will exit the series at the end of this season, saying their exits “aren’t tragic.”

Also Read: 'Grey's Anatomy' Renewed for Season 15 at ABC

“You only get killed off when your behavior is bad. If you’re a nice actor, you die nice,” she said. “But yeah, these endings aren’t tragic.”

“My first reaction was what? What do you mean? Why?” the star said when she heard the fan-favorite actresses would be leaving the show. “You go through levels and stages of grief, right? It’s hard. It’s hard for them, it’s hard for us, it’s hard for the writer, who had to make the choice, had to make the creative decision. And I just try to be as supportive as I could be to everyone involved.”

When “Grey’s” eventually does end, does Pompeo envision a tragic ending for Meredith?

Also Read: 'Grey's Anatomy': Geena Davis Will Reprise Her Role As Dr Nicole Herman

“I don’t know. I know I’m going to survive because there’s no show without me, so I never worry how I’m going to survive this. I guess I just worry if the audience will like it,” she said.

As far as Season 14 goes, Pompeo said the finale is “classic ‘Grey’s’ finale time. So it’s gonna be devastating, and then we’re going to pull you out of devastating and make you smile.”

Watch “Grey’s Anatomy” Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC. The finale airs May 17.

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Denny Duquette

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George O'Malley

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Lexie Grey

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ABC
Mark Sloan

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Cristina Yang

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Derek Shepherd

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ABC

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With the Season 14 finale signaling the exit of Dr. April Kepner (Sarah Drew) and Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) after years on the show, we're prepping ourselves to say goodbye to the fan favorite characters. Here's a look back at the hardest goodbyes from the series.

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