Ellen Pompeo says goodbye to 'Grey's Anatomy' fans after a 'fun' and 'iconic' 19-season run

• Ellen Pompeo bid farewell to "Grey's Anatomy" fans on Thursday after 19 years on the show.
• "I am eternally grateful and humbled by the love and support you have all shown me," she wrote.

Ellen Pompeo said goodbye to "Grey's Anatomy" fans in a short and sweet Instagram post on Thursday.

"I am eternally grateful and humbled by the love and support you have all shown me, Meredith GREY and the show for 19 seasons! she wrote. "Through it all….none of it …would have been possible without the best fans in the world. You all are RIDERS and you all have made the ride so fun and ICONIC!!"

It was confirmed in August that Pompeo would be scaling back her role as the titular surgeon at Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital, as reported by Deadline.

In her Instagram post, Pompeo assured fans she'd be back.

"This isn't your first time on the rollercoaster… you know the show must go on and I'll definitely be back to visit. With a lot of love and immense gratitude XoE" she wrote.

The Betr Remedies founder told Insider in November 2021 that she was trying to convince unnamed people at ABC that the show should end.

"I feel like I'm the super naive one who keeps saying, 'But what's the story going to be, what story are we going to tell?'And everyone's like, 'Who cares, Ellen? It makes a gazillion dollars,'" she said.

Her post is a few months early, as "Grey's" fans saw in the midseason premiere trailer that Meredith would be at Grey-Sloan to say goodbye to her colleagues. The episode is set to air on February 23.