That Dr. Qadri Twist On Grey’s Anatomy May Be Permanent

Warning: This article includes spoilers for Grey's Anatomy's season 16, episode 3. 

Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is on a firing spree on Grey's Anatomy. In addition to the already-fired Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Sophia Taylor Ali's character Dr. Dahlia Qadri just lost her job on Grey's Anatomy too. She was ousted on the Oct. 10 episode, and it doesn't look like she's coming back any time soon. 

Bailey lost her patience with the intern when Qadri let Bailey know how much Meredith Grey meant to the staff. "Guess how many residents came her to work with Meredith Grey? … I picked this [hospital] and it wasn't to watch Meredith Grey on a TV screen," Qadri said to Bailey after Meredith had FaceTimed in for a difficult procedure. But Bailey has had it up to here with all the pro-Meredith talk, and she wasn't about to let Qadri speak to her that way. "Yeah, you shouldn't have to work like that, so let's fix it," Bailey said. "Work somewhere else. You’re fired … now you and your hero have something in common."

Ouch. Qadri's firing seems to be pretty permanent at least for the next few episodes. She's not listed in the press releases for either the Oct. 17 or Oct. 24 episode. The ABC press site doesn't have information beyond that, but Qadri is not a major player like Meredith or Alex, so her firing could be for good. However, that would be a pretty big loss for the show because Qadri is one of the only positive representations of a Muslim woman on network TV.

When she landed the role, actress Ali told Bustle that she wanted to be a positive role model for girls like her — especially because she didn't have that as a child. "Growing up, I always kind of felt unrepresented onscreen. I never really saw anyone who looked like me," she said. "I guess I kind of just want that for girls like me, who are watching TV and need a role model who's like them." She added in an interview with Elle that she cherished the role of Qadri because she was such an everyday character who just happened to also be Muslim. "I love the fact that my character's Muslim and she wears a hijab, and it's not a prominent factor of who she is. She's got so much more to her," Ali said. "I feel like not making that an issue is so cool. It's opening [viewers'] eyes to that type of person."

However, even if Qadri's story has run its course, Ali is just grateful for the time she had. In an October 2018 interview with Parade, Ali admitted that she often worried that her character would be written out, since that is the nature of a show like this. "They write as they go, so there is no guarantee that your storyline is going to continue and that is very stressful because I love being on the show," Ali said at the time. "I know I'll be okay regardless of what happens, but I don't know what’s going to happen with my character most of the time and a lot of the actors feel the same way."

It's possible that whenever Meredith Grey returns to work (she has to, right? Her name is in the title of the damn show), Bailey will reinstate Qadri to again work alongside her idol. But even if this is the end of the road for Ali's character, she can take comfort in knowing that, for the three seasons she was on the show, she was someone that young Muslim girls could look up to and imagine one day being just like her.