Jesse Williams played the beloved Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy for 12 seasons. He first appeared in the show as a recurring cast member in the fifth season. He was later added to the main cast in the sixth season, where Avery joined Seattle Grace’s residency program with Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang. His exit as a regular cast member from the show came in the 17th season.
Williams later returned to the show for a few guest appearances, most notably in the show’s 400th episode in Season 18 and two episodes in Season 19 to facilitate Ellen Pompeo’s exit. In the show, Williams’ most significant story arc was his on-and-off relationship with Dr. April Kepner, played by Sarah Drew.
Jesse Williams made his exit from Grey’s Anatomy in the 17th season
Unlike many other characters on the show, Jesse Williams’ Dr. Jackson Avery had a very satisfying exit from Grey’s Anatomy. He joined the show as a surgical resident and later became a sought-after plastic surgeon. He was the grandson of Harper Avery, the once-reputed surgeon who was the namesake for the Harper Avery Award and the Harper Avery Foundation.
However, Jackson wanted to build his own legacy, separate from his grandfather. The character underwent significant character development throughout the show. He and Dr. April Kepner shared one of the show’s most interesting (and at times, frustrating) relationships. In Season 10, he proposed to April when she was at the altar to marry another man!
While some loved this scene, many hated the duo for how they treated their respective partners at the time. They got married, and it didn’t last long, partly due to the death of their newborn baby. April became pregnant again with their second child, but they had signed their divorce papers by then. And April got back together with Matthew, the man she left at the altar. It was just a mess!
Coming back to Williams’s exit… After the coronavirus pandemic hit, Jackson became frustrated with the inequities in the healthcare system and figured out that he could do more. He then decides to join his mother in Boston and head up their foundation, the Catherine Fox Foundation. Before he leaves, he gets his affairs in order.
In Season 17, Episode 15, titled Tradition, he first visits his ex-wife, April, with the proposal that she move to Boston, so that he can keep visiting his daughter. Sarah Drew, who exited the series in Season 14, returned to wrap up Jackson’s arc with April.
To his surprise, April agrees without much hesitation. When he presses further, she reveals that she and Matthew aren’t together anymore. At this point, Jackson was having a casual relationship with Dr. Jo Wilson; however, it wasn’t meaningful. So, there was a hint here that Jackson and April could get back together.
He bids his goodbye to Camilla Luddington’s Wilson, something her ex-husband Alex Karev never did. He thanks Dr. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) for being both mentors and parental figures in his life.
He also bids farewell to Ellen Pompeo‘s Meredith Grey, who just survived COVID-19. With Jackson’s exit, Meredith became the last one standing from her residency class. The episode’s ending saw Jackson leaving in his car and a final look at Grey Sloan Memorial. Then, we get to see a montage with moments from Jesse Williams’ time in the show.
Why did Jesse Williams leave Grey’s Anatomy?
Jesse Williams took to Instagram to share his gratitude for the opportunity to play Jackson Avery for 12 seasons. He posted a video of his moments from the show, along with a long caption where he named and thanked each of his current and previous cast members and crew. He thanked all the fans, calling them central to the story of Shonda Rhimes‘ show. He shared:
As an actor, director and person, I have been obscenely lucky to learn so much from so many and I THANK OUR INCREDIBLE FANS ALL OVER THE WORLD who breathe so much energy and appreciation into our lives and work. You are central to this story! The experience and endurance born of creating nearly 300 hours of leading global television is a gift I’ll carry always.
He further shared that he would be moving forward in his career with “this array of tools, allies, opportunities, and dear friends.” He only had great things to say about his show when he appeared for an interview with THR in May 2021 after his exit.
He shared that he was proud that, in the role of Jackson Avery, he could “humanize things that are always projected to be so polarizing and far away in our society.” He shared with THR:
Being able to look at the way these last couple episodes how he went out, these are really polarizing topics: racism, police brutality, racial inequality in medicine, discrimination … these are things that people put their head in the sand, deny and argue about and have been political punching bags. And this character and his journey has connected with people from all walks of life.
Despite all the things he could achieve with Grey’s Anatomy, he shared during an interview with The New York Times in 2022 that he had to move forward to take up new challenges. He shared that he began to feel “increasingly safe, protected, insulated” in the role of Jackson. He shared:
I knew that as I designed my exit, the next thing I did had to be terrifying. I needed to get out of my comfort zone, I needed to go into a very unknown place.
Sarah Drew also spoke to the outlet about Williams. She shared, “There’s nobody that worked as hard as he did. Nobody.” After his exit, Williams’ character, Jackson, returned to the 400th episode of the show in Season 18. He arrives at Grey Sloan to convince Meredith to stay at the hospital. In the episode, it is also suggested that he and April are now together.
Later, he appeared in two episodes of Season 19. In these episodes, Meredith meets Jackson in Boston to express her desire to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Jackson is interested in helping her. Later in the season finale, he helps Meredith move to Boston, where she can continue her research. His final guest appearance on the show happened in the season premiere of the 21st season.
Jesse Williams’ post-Grey’s Anatomy career has been good
Another reason for Jesse Williams to leave Grey’s Anatomy was to star in the Broadway revival of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out. Williams played the role of fictional baseball star Darren Lemming, who comes out as gay. Take Me Out explores the themes of homophobia and racism. The Broadway play also featured Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Suits star Patrick J. Adams.
During his interview with The New York Times, Williams said he was drawn to the role because he “really wanted the challenge.” He added, “The last thing I want is to be the shiny, rich TV guy who thinks he can just show up and do something, because that’s just absolutely not how I feel. I’m just here to learn.” The play ran from April 2022 to February 2023.
Take Me Out won the Best Revival of a Play award at the 75th Tony Awards. Williams was nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Play, which meant that his trade-off eventually worked in his favor. His screen roles after the Broadway show have been less intense than those in Grey’s Anatomy.
He was cast in the third season of the hit Hulu series, Only Murders in the Building. In this season where Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short set out to solve the murder case of Ben Glenroy, Williams plays Tobert, a documentarian who becomes interested in the case.
He appeared in the superhero comedy film Secret Headquarters. He also played Theo in the recent Netflix rom-com Your Place or Mine, starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher. He is set to play the lead role in the Italian action drama series Costiera on Prime Video.
Grey’s Anatomy episodes are now available for streaming on Hulu and Netflix.
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