'Grey's Anatomy' season 12 spoilers: Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Capshaw open up about Sara Ramirez's sudden exit
"Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes and star Jessica Capshaw have broken their silence on the surprising exit of long-time cast member Sara Ramirez from the long-running ABC medical drama.
A few days after Ramirez's last appearance in "Grey's Anatomy" season 12 finale, Capshaw, whose character Dr. Arizona Robbins had a seasons-long relationship with Ramirez's Dr. Callie Torres, showed the latter some love on Twitter.
"Congrats on 10 incredible years!" Capshaw wrote. "I wish @SaraRamirez the very best & I celebrate what Callie has given to all of us."
In the finale aired Thursday, May 19, Arizona, who was in the midst of a bitter custody battle with Callie, appeared at the latter's doorstep and handed over two plane tickets to New York so that Callie could be with her new girlfriend, Penny (Samantha Sloyan). The two promised to eventually settle a custody arrangement that would allow Callie to move across the country with Penny while sharing custody of their daughter Sofia.
While "Grey's Anatomy" creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes wished Ramirez well and reminded the actress that she will always be a part of the Shondaland family, she recently admitted that Ramirez's exit took her by surprise. Rhimes also revealed that Callie's last scene in the finale was not intended to be her final one in the series.
During an appearance at the Vulture Festival in New York City on Sunday, May 22, Rhimes called Ramirez's departure "interesting" and said, "It was different because it wasn't a big, planned thing," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"I had a different plan going and when Sara came and said, 'I really need to take this break,' I was sort of lucky that we had shot the end of the season with her going to New York," she explained.
On Thursday, May 19, Ramirez released a statement about her "Grey's Anatomy" exit. It said, "I'm deeply grateful to have spent the last 10 years with my family at Grey's Anatomy & ABC but for now I'm taking some welcome time off."
"Grey's Anatomy" returns for its third season this fall on ABC.
