By After nine seasons, Dr. Maggie Pierce is saying goodbye to Grey’s Anatomy. The character, who was formally introduced as Meredith’s unknown half sister — the daughter of Meredith’s mother, Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), and Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) — in season 11, departed Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital last night over two episodes, leaving her role as head of cardiothoracic surgery for a new position in Chicago. For actress Kelly McCreary, the farewell was both emotional and hopeful, marking Maggie’s growth over 200 episodes.
The dual-episode arc gave Maggie an opportunity for one final surgery, where she and her husband, Dr. Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill), saved a woman’s life with a cutting-edge procedure. After the success, Winston asked Maggie to stay, but Maggie, in a moment of resilience, chose her career and committed to going to Chicago, leaving a lingering question or two about the state of their relationship. Even so, Maggie had some fittingly poignant moments with Winston, and she also connected with Richard, her biological father, with whom she’s often had a complicated relationship, one last time.
“She’s not leaving in an angry way,” McCreary explains to Shondaland. “She’s leaving in a very intentional way. We all felt she would take the time to take in the place, how it had helped her grow, and who contributed to her growth. We wanted to give the audience a sense that she knows that and doesn’t take anything for granted. And I shared that with her.”
Over the course of her time on Grey’s Anatomy, McCreary has experienced many ups and downs through Maggie. The character found her half sister, lost her adopted mother, fell in and out of love with fellow GSMH surgeon Dr. Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams), and eventually met Winston, a man she has loved despite their challenges as a couple. Maggie has proved herself as a doctor countless times, and has also made mistakes, which McCreary feels has been important for Maggie’s development as a surgeon and a woman in the world. Throughout it all, Maggie has been an inspirational figure to many viewers, who are drawn to her inner strength, intelligence, and skill.
Even though Maggie will briefly return for the series finale, McCreary is still feeling her way through the emotions of her official departure. We spoke with the actress about why she decided to leave Grey’s Anatomy, Maggie’s choices, and why the character has been so essential to the show.
Spoilers for the most recent episodes of Grey’s Anatomy follow.
EMILY ZEMLER: How are you feeling about your time on Grey’s Anatomy coming to an end?
KELLY McCREARY: It’s hard to explain. I’ll say this: Yesterday, we had the table read for the season finale, and it was our first table read since before the pandemic. It was like February or March of 2020 when we last had one. And our table reads are such a community-building experience. I sat at that table, and I flashed back to my very first table read.
I flashed back to having just met Shonda and her telling me what the bombshell would be at the end of that episode, the reveal that Maggie was Meredith’s sister. I was sitting at that table, and it was a cold read, so I was the only one at that table with that knowledge. I was like, “Oh, my God.” I didn’t know anybody in the room. So, flashing back to that moment and comparing it to yesterday, where everybody in the room is my family. They’re people I’ve been riding with for the last nine years.
They were such deeply contrasting experiences of feeling isolated and very, very nervous to feeling just right at home and embodied in myself and in this character. It was very emotional to think about all of the space in between that time. So much has happened, and it’s just been a really amazing ride.
EZ: Why did you decide to leave the show?
KM: I’ve always looked at this show and Maggie from a number of different lenses. On Grey’s, the young doctors come, and they grow up there in the hospital. So, you’ve got that, and you’ve got the fact that Maggie came with this very specific purpose, which was to know more about her mother and to know more about her family as an adopted child. I revisited that at the beginning of every season. I always wondered: Did Maggie get what she came here for? What does she want now that’s new and different? I’m always exploring that: What does she want?
I felt at the end of last season, with Maggie and Winston in this crisis moment, that maybe this was the time. It was the question of whether it was time for her to move on, having gotten what she needed from her personal exploration, having gotten what she needed from growth. I thought, “I wonder if this is the moment for her to ask a new question.” So, I went to the team with it, and we agreed it would be a good time for Maggie to go.
EZ: As a viewer, I’m grateful Maggie left the show to continue her career and wasn’t killed off.
KM: Me too! I did say, “You know, throughout the show, Meredith loses a lot of her loved ones, and if that’s what needs to happen to close the circle, then I guess I’ll do it.” And they were like, “No, no, we’re not going to kill Maggie.”
EZ: Phew! Maggie is able to have final moments with Winston and Richard before she goes to Chicago. Why was that important for her?
KM: It was such a pleasure to collaborate with Krista [Vernoff] and Meg [Marinis] and the writers at the end of this storyline because they really cared about what I thought. I said, “However you guys decide to write this, I just really want to have some moments with the people who have been Maggie’s partners in crime on this journey.” Obviously, that’s Winston and Richard; that’s Meredith and Amelia. Everyone has been a significant touch point for her, but those relationships are obviously the cornerstones of her. So, it meant so much to me to be able to have those moments and give her closure.
EZ: Is Maggie ultimately choosing her career over her marriage?
KM: It remains to be seen whether she’s really chosen her career over her marriage. I think that they just have to figure out how to do marriage differently and be in a relationship differently. Being in a relationship has never been one of Maggie’s strong suits, and maybe that’s because the conventional way is not the way that works for her. But I do think that there’s this constant question of what parts of her are nature versus nurture. Maggie had this incredibly loving upbringing from her mom and dad in Boston, but she also has parts of Ellis. And Ellis was driven. It’s why Maggie came — to find out about her. And it turns out she found out about her mother just by living her own life and letting it reveal itself.
EZ: It’s a great surprise for the viewer to see Maggie’s two moms with her in the elevator at the end.
KM: Oh, my God. That was such a brilliant idea of Krista’s. That she would be sent off by her two mothers with this acknowledgment that she got all of the best parts of both of them. She’s going to learn and keep building on everything that they both gave her. I love that so much.
EZ: Was it fun to do one final surgery as Maggie?
KM: Yes! It was. To be honest, the surgeries were always really challenging for me to shoot because of the gear that I had to wear. Not all the doctors — in fact, I think it’s only the heart surgeons — have to wear the light helmet and those magnified glasses. I would get so sick every time, like I had a claustrophobia thing. I would feel dizzy and nauseous. But this time, it was fun because I flashed back to the first time I was ever in the OR set. I can remember the smells and every instruction and direction given to me by our medical producer.
Shooting that last scene in the OR, I had this rush of “Wow, this is where I’ve spent nine years of my life.” Maggie has done so much in those rooms, and she’s been so powerful. I personally have experienced a feeling of personal power through Maggie from those scenes, from her confidence and her ability to drive through to get the job done and her focus. To experience that one more time was really great.
EZ: Why do you feel Maggie was such an important character to have on TV?
KM: Anything that explores the inner life of a Black woman over a prolonged period of time on national television is important in and of itself. I don’t think we can really get too much of that. We have to take as many opportunities as we can to evoke empathy and compassion and remind each other of our humanity because we live in a world where too often it’s not considered, especially as it relates to Black women.
But also, Maggie succeeds in spite of herself. That’s another theme of Grey’s — we get to see the characters in all of their imperfections. They do things and say things where you’re like, “Girl, what are you doing?” But that is so human. I love that for nine seasons, you got to see her make mistakes, and do the wrong thing, and find redemption and compassion and love from her community and herself time and time again.
That is, to me, what is interesting about any character. That we get to see what happens when we fail. How do they react? How do they change or not move forward? Isn’t that an interesting window into human behavior and how we overcome these challenges? It was great to spend nine seasons with a person who really learns what she wants to do and to achieve in specific areas of her life and is truly at sea in many others.
EZ: So, will we see Maggie again one more time in the season finale?
KM: Yeah. That’s all I can say.
EZ: What’s next for you after Grey’s Anatomy?
KM: I’m looking forward to playing a lot of characters. I want to get into the mind and body and heart of them over the course of my career. I got to do so many things on Grey’s. It’s a procedural comedy/drama, but we did everything on that show. I’m really excited about tapping into different genres and styles and things I got a taste of on Grey’s and exploring characters more deeply and who go in different directions — the dark, the light, the action, all of it.
I feel really grateful to Shonda and Krista and the entire production and the writers for letting me hang out so long and getting to play with them for such a long time with this amazing character on such an iconic show. It’s hard to really be articulate about what’s coming next because I’m very much still in this moment. I’m feeling a lot of gratitude and excitement about being able to bring Maggie’s journey to a close.
Emily Zemler is a freelance writer and journalist based in London. She regularly contributes to the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, PureWow, and TripSavvy, and is the author of two books. Follow her on Twitter @emilyzemler.
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