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Greyâs Anatomy , titled Tradition.
After the much-anticipated Japril reunion that more or less coincided with
Greyâs Anatomy s Season 18 renewal, Jackson had made his decision to leave Grey Sloan Memorial in order to run the Fox Foundation and make some big changes. The episode Tradition featured Jackson saying his farewells to the hospital after a dozen years, and star Jesse Williams understandably had thoughts to share about the departure.
While many TV exits are made public well ahead of time, Jesse Williams departure was kept under wraps for an impressive amount of time. Williams told Deadline why it makes sense for Jackson to leave after all these years, and why itâs so important:
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Spoiler alert! The following story contains spoilers for the Greyâs Anatomy Season 17 episode âTradition.â Stop reading if you havenât watched it yet!
Greyâs in its 17th season.
Dr. Tom Koracick will be leaving Grey-Sloan to join Jackson Avery at the Catherine Fox Foundation in Boston. Koracick, played by
Greg Germann, first came to
Greyâs in Season 14 as a recurring character who operated on
Amelia when she had a brain tumor. He was upgraded to a series regular in Season 16.
Koracick s exit comes on the heels of a tough battle with COVID, as he caught up with Jackson in the hospital parking lot and desperately asked if there was a place for him in Boston. He said that while he fought COVID, he lost six roommates, and none of them were white. When he heard the work that Jackson was going to do, he was inspired and told Jackson he wanted to be a part of it:
After a dozen seasons, countless surgeries and enough heartache to give anyone a coronary, Grey’s Anatomy’s Jackson Avery said goodbye Thursday to Grey Sloan, Seattle and, well, all of us as he set off to begin his new life with April and Harriet in Boston. Read on, and we’ll go over not only Jesse Williams’
Fans keep paging Dr. Yang, but Sandra Oh has long since moved on.
Of course, Jackson didnât leave without saying goodbye to some of the doctors who mean the most to him. He submitted his immediate resignation to Bailey (Chandra Wilson)âmuch to her surpriseâand thanked her and Richard (James Pickens Jr.) for being everything his father isnât and proving âexample after example of not giving into despair or complacency.â
Jackson also thanked Jo (Camilla Luddington) for friendshipâand the friendship with benefits, of courseâand gave her some good-natured ribbing about her new OB/GYN specialty. And he thanked Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) for the camaraderie, with Mer realizing that sheâs now the last man standing from their residency class.
Fans keep paging Dr. Yang, but Sandra Oh has long since moved on.
Of course, Jackson didnât leave without saying goodbye to some of the doctors who mean the most to him. He submitted his immediate resignation to Bailey (Chandra Wilson)âmuch to her surpriseâand thanked her and Richard (James Pickens Jr.) for being everything his father isnât and proving âexample after example of not giving into despair or complacency.â
Jackson also thanked Jo (Camilla Luddington) for friendshipâand the friendship with benefits, of courseâand gave her some good-natured ribbing about her new OB/GYN specialty. And he thanked Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) for the camaraderie, with Mer realizing that sheâs now the last man standing from their residency class.