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Is 'Grey's Anatomy' Season 17 the last season? Here's what Patrick Dempsey has to say

In a cryptic interview, Patrick Dempsey hinted that ABC's hugely popular medical drama could soon be coming to its end

Patrick Dempsey just can't seem to stop surprising us. First with his surprise reappearance on 'Grey's Anatomy' and now with a rather cryptic interview, he recently gave to ET Canada. When asked about the show beyond Season 17, Patrick gave a mysterious answer, "It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months."

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This has got fans in quite a flurry, especially coming on the heels of an interview that Ellen Pompeo who plays Meredith Grey on the show gave to 'Variety' earlier saying, "We don’t know when the show is really ending yet, But the truth is, this year could be it. I mean, this is the last year of my contract right now. I don’t know that this is the last year? But it very well could be."

But are the numbers are just too good for ABC to bring the show to an end? In delayed multiplatform viewing, Season 16 of 'Grey's Anatomy' averaged 15 million viewers.

Interestingly even though 'Grey's Anatomy' has so much more competition for the public imagination now than when it first started, 'Grey's Anatomy' still ranks as the No.1 drama among 18 to 34-year-olds and No. 2 among adults 18 to 49-year-olds. These numbers sound too good to bring to an end and it seems that ABC for the moment agrees. ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke in an interview to Deadline said "Grey’s Anatomy will live as long as Ellen is interested in playing Meredith Grey. We will let her lead the pace on that."

But surely nothing that happens anywhere escapes Dr Bailey! Chandra Wilson, who plays the tough and all-seeing Dr Miranda Bailey on the show, doesn't think the end is near thankfully!

In an interview to Entertainment Tonight Wilson said, "I know from a creative standpoint there have been many 'This is how the season would end' conversations and then they all end up [not happening] because of a myriad of reasons. Because the network's not ready, the studio's not ready, the fanbase isn't ready, the numbers are too good, all of those things. Collectively, they've decided we're not going to put an end on it. We're just going to wait and see."

Grey's Anatomy Season 17 returns to ABC on March 11, 2021 with a special crossover event with the show 'Station 19'. Check out the trailer below and see what is in store for characters Ben Warren, Andrew and Carina DeLuca, and of course, Meredith Grey as she battles Covid.