It is a part of our success and what keeps the show exciting. We love these actresses and we love these characters and it felt true and right creatively to wrap up their stories. And that is the whole story."

Capshaw and Drew become the second and third series regulars to exit Grey's this season. They join Martin Henderson (Nathan), who was written out after a two-season run.

The exits come as Grey's — ABC's No. 2 drama behind The Good Doctor — is in a period of change. After saying farewell to series regular Jerrika Hinton (Stephanie) last year, star Jason George (Ben) is transitioning to Station 19, the firefighter spinoff. The drama, which welcomed back Vernoff as co-showrunner (after her stint in seasons one through seven) as Rhimesprepared her move to Netflix, also recently introduced six new interns as the veteran drama looks to repopulate its ranks. Former star Kim Raver also recently booked her return, with Scott Speedman set to guest-star this season.

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Remaining series regulars on Grey's are original stars Pompeo, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. Kevin McKidd, Jesse Williams, George, Caterina Scorsone, Camilla Luddington, Kelly McCreary and Giacomo Gianniotti are regulars as well.

Grey's remains more important to ABC now than ever as Rhimes exited her longtime home with producers ABC Studios for a Netflix deal said to be worth north of $100 million. Last week, ABC used Grey's to set up the Station 19 spinoff, which is exec produced but not written by Rhimes.

Deadline was the first to report