Why Did Sarah Drew and Jesse Williams Leave 'Grey's Anatomy'?

The Grey's Anatomy Season 18 finale will see the return of fan favorite couple "Japril," as Jackson Avery (played by Jesse Williams) and April Kepner (Sarah Drew) return to help the ABC show go out with a bang.

Jesse Williams left the show last May after 12 seasons, while Sarah Drew exited the series at the end of Season 14 in 2018.

The pair were last on the show together for Williams' departure episode, where they both revealed they were moving to Boston—he to run his family foundation, she to be nearer to the daughter they share.

The ABC stars left the show for very different reasons.

Read on to find out what caused them to leave Grey's Anatomy.

Why Did Sarah Drew Leave Grey's Anatomy?

Per Deadline, the producers must decide whether to pick up the option for each cast member at the start of every new season. Before Season 15 started, they decided to not renew Drew's contract, meaning she was effectively let go from the ABC show.

In the piece, it states that the decision was a creative one due to the show going in a new direction. Showrunner Krista Vernoff said in a statement: "As writers, our job is to follow the stories where they want to go, and sometimes that means saying goodbye to characters we love."

Deadline later had to update the story after it accidentally implied a connection between Drew's departure and the significant pay rise Meredith Grey star Ellen Pompeo got to stay on the show around the same time.

Pompeo made a reported $20 million a year in the deal.

This led Vernoff to tweet: "The suggestion in the Deadline article that our cast changes are in any way related to Ellen Pompeo's salary renegotiation is wrong and hurtful and misguided...The decision to make changes to our cast was a creative one...We love these actresses and we love these characters and it felt true and right creatively to wrap up their stories."

Why Did Jesse Williams Leave Grey's Anatomy?

Asked by The Hollywood Reporter why he was leaving the ABC show, Williams said: "This was an organic, collective decision; it wasn't something I had to tell anybody. It was something we found and understood and were trying to honor it and do properly. It was a team effort throughout.

"It didn't feel like any one of us coming to the other and having an outcome predetermined. We wrote something together and this is what it was."

This came after discussions the actor had with Vernoff about where they thought Jackson should go plot-wise, and how his story should come to an end.

"It was a combination of trying to figure out with Krista and the team what makes sense and what's next for Jackson," he added. "His pot is kind of bubbling over. What does he need to be doing?"

His decision to leave came after his most recent two-year contract came to an end.

In a New York Times profile, he spoke of being "increasingly safe, protected, insulated," and wanting to take creative risks in his career.

"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," he said, in a piece discussing his new play Take Me Out, about a baseball player who comes out as gay.

The two-part Grey's Anatomy Season 18 finale airs Thursday, May 26 at 8 p.m. on ABC.