Summary

ABC's long-running medical drama Grey's Anatomy has lost many characters over the years. While some of them have been written out in heartbreaking storylines like Derek Shepherd's devastating death that saw Patrick Dempsey leave the series, or T.R. Knight's George O'Malley being involved in a tragic accident others have been sent off for more complicated and sometimes off-screen reasons. Those departures often sting just as much.

Sarah Drew played Dr. April Kepner for almost 10 seasons before she was one of the actors written out of Grey's Anatomy for a surprising reason. While it was a relief that Kepner wasn't killed off like some of her predecessors, the news of Drew's departure was very upsetting to many fans, who'd come to love her character. So what exactly happened that caused the series to let April and Drew go?

Updated on April 12, 2024 by Katie Doll: When she was first introduced, April Kepner was hardly a fan-favorite among fans. Some people found it irritating to try to sympathize with her, considering she made grave mistakes that proved she didn't deserve a spot in the prestigious residency program. However, April showed strength as a person who's willing to own up to her mistakes and learn from them. She quickly became a favorite among viewers who saw themselves as the underdogs trying to stick to their moral values. This article has been updated to expand more on April's storyline toward the end of her run on Grey's Anatomy and the projects Sarah Drew's taken on since her departure.

First Appearance

Season 6, Episode 5, "Invasion"

Last Appearance (as main cast)

Season 14, Episode 24, "All of Me"

Last Appearance (as guest star)

Season 18, Episode 20, "You Are the Blood"

April Kepner made her series debut in Season 6, Episode 5, "Invasion" as a Mercy West resident who joined Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital after the merger between the two hospitals. April was quickly fired after failing to check in a patient's airway after a fire and that mistake led to the patient's death. However, Derek (who was almost played by Rob Lowe) rehired April when he became the new Chief of Surgery, and she consequently developed a crush on him.

But that crush ended when she developed a relationship with Jackson Avery. However, the pair weren't a perfect match due to their differing beliefs in religion. April was a devout Christian saving herself for marriage, a motive that most of her peers mocked her for, and Jackson was an atheist. Although they made it work for some time, they ultimately broke up after losing her virginity to him and failing her board exams. She then begins a relationship with a paramedic named Matthew, who seemed like the perfect match for her in their mutual bubbly personalities and faith.

April and Jackson's up-and-down relationship culminated with him professing his love during her wedding ceremony to Matthew. The pair soon got married after themselves and April later became pregnant with their first child, Samuel. However, the newborn baby died shortly after birth due to his Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type 2 diagnosis. Their child's death put a strain on their marriage and led to April's employment as a trauma surgeon overseas. When April returned, she and Jackson filed for divorce, just before April discovered she was pregnant with their second child, Harriet.

Later, April was deeply saddened about three patients' deaths and struggled with her Christian faith. After losing a patient, she began to believe that only good people die and bad people are rewarded. When Arizona Robbins (played by the recently returned Jessica Capshaw) blamed April for the death of Matthew's pregnant wife, she started making dangerous lifestyle changes to cover up her mental health issues. She earned the nickname "The Party" for her self-destructive party-going habits and using sex as a coping mechanism. She put these habits aside when she met a terminally ill patient who helped her find faith again.

April reunited with her former fiance Matthew after getting back to her normal self, but things weren't looking up for April. The two get into a car accident where April almost dies of hypothermia, due to nobody finding them immediately. But her "rebirth" perfectly encapsulates her struggle with faith for the last two seasons Jackson prays for April, despite not believing in God, and April wakes up. Perhaps good people do receive good things. April and Matthew then married in the Season 14 finale. She subsequently resigned from the hospital and began providing medical care to communities stricken with homelessness.

While many actors left the show to seek out new and exciting roles including Jesse Williams, who played Drew's on-screen love interest Jackson Avery Sarah Drew's exit from Grey's Anatomy wasn't her decision. In a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Drew recounted how she was told the show "needed to downsize" to accommodate the countless cast members. She was subsequently terminated as a result along with Jessica Capshaw, who portrayed Dr. Arizona Robbins.

However, she returned in Season 17 when Williams departed the show. April was revealed to have separated from Matthew and moved to Boston with Jackson to lead the Catherine Fox Foundation with their daughter. But the show wasn't over yet for April and Jackson. The now reconciled couple returned again in the Season 18 finale, which was the series' 400th episode. They were in Seattle to help the residency program, which was at great risk of being shut down, since Jackson's the head of the Catherine Fox Foundation.

There was also a secret kiss in the elevator, which every iconic Grey's Anatomy couple must do in order to romantically flourish. But since then, Jackson and April have moved on to better things beyond Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Since Grey's Anatomy gave Jackson and April their happy ending and both are still alive, there's no reason that Dr. April Kepner couldn't make another guest appearance in the future.

Drew's departure from Grey's Anatomy obviously wasn't her decision, but the actor has done well for herself since saying goodbye to the medical drama. She's starred in a number of Lifetime and Hallmark television films, even acting as executive producer for two of them: How She Caught a Killer and Reindeer Games Homecoming. The latter of which she also wrote the screenplay for.

The most popular projects Drew's starred in since Grey's Anatomy have been the television shows Cruel Summer and Amber Brown. In the former, she portrayed Cindy Turner, the mother of one of the main characters in Season 1. Amber Brown is a family television series based on the book of the same name, which was released on Apple TV+ in 2022. Drew portrays the mother of a young girl dealing with the divorce of her parents.

Grey's Anatomy is available to stream on Hulu and Netflix. New episodes air every Thursday at 9 P.M. ET on ABC.

A drama centered on the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors.

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Why Did Sarah Drew Leave Grey's Anatomy? - CBR - Comic Book Resources