With maddeningly little fanfare, this season of Grey’s Anatomy saw the departure of Justin Chambers, one of the show’s few remaining original cast members, who plays Alex Karev. After vague departure announcements and even vaguer details regarding Karev’s whereabouts on the show, the trailer for next Thursday’s episode confirms that fans will finally get some much needed closure on his storyline.
Though Chambers won’t appear in the episode, his character will be getting a proper farewell and, as ABC stated, we’ll get a chance to “see how his story ends.” Up to this point, little has been explained to tie up Karev’s disappearance — all we know is that he said he was home in Iowa to take care of his mother and that his wife Jo Wilson believes he left her.
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With Karev gone, Grey’s Anatomy is left with only three characters who appeared in the show’s first episode: Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), and Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr).
Earlier this year, the actor explained that he was leaving to pursue other projects, in particular, work behind the scenes and on documentaries. Grey’s has seen a handful of dramatic departures, but thankfully this time around, everything seems to be drama-free.
At least we can find comfort in the fact that we’re not alone in our dismay over Chambers leaving the show. Ellen Pompeo recently took to Twitter to voice her sadness over the show’s loss of her co-star, responding, “Truer words have never been spoken,” to a Vanity Fair article that calls his departure one of Grey’s “biggest losses yet.
Grab your box of tissues, this promises to be another famous Grey’s tearjerker.