Jessica Capshaw And Sarah Drew Will Exit "Grey's Anatomy" After Season 14

8 March 2018, 21:48 | Updated: 8 March 2018, 22:06

Capshaw and Drew, who play Arizona Robbins and April Kepner, have been "let go" by the show for creative reasons.

It was announced on Thursday that Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw will be leaving Grey's Anatomy at the end of the current season.

As reported by Deadline, the pair who played fan favourites April Kepner and Arizona Robbins were let go by producers after it was decided that it was time to end their storylines. Capshaw has been on the show for 10 seasons, and Drew has been on the show for 9 seasons.

“The characters of Arizona and April are permanently woven into the fabric of Grey’s Anatomy thanks to the extraordinary work of Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew,” said Krista Vernoff, the show's producer. “As writers, our job is to follow the stories where they want to go and sometimes that means saying goodbye to characters we love. It has been a joy and a privilege to work with these phenomenally talented actresses.”

Shonda Rhimes also addressed the news with a statement regarding their cultural significance. (Arizona is a lesbian and April is a devout Christian.)

“It’s always hard for me to say goodbye to any of my characters,” said Rhimes. “Both Arizona Robbins and April Kepner are not only beloved but iconic — both the LBGTQ and devout Christian communities are underrepresented on TV. I will be forever grateful to both Jessica and Sarah for bringing these characters to life with such vibrant performance and for inspiring women around the globe. They will always be a part of our Shondaland family.”

Both Capshaw and Drew also issued statements on Twitter.

Needless to say, fans are absolutely furious over the decision to get rid of two HUGE fan favourites. And a few of their co-stars have been weighing in on the situation too.

While it's completely understandable the reason why their characters have to leave, it's still incredibly disappointing for the fans because it seems like there's still so much for them to bring to the show.

Arizona was never really given a chance to reach Addison or Herman level standards as a fetal surgeon and there's still so much scope for her to find love after Callie. And straight-laced April, who has a baby daughter, has ONLY just discovered her reckless new wild side.

With Arizona's departure, it's also a HUGE loss for the LGBTQ+ community as there's no longer any main characters on the show who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or otherwise. (Bisexual Carina DeLuca is a recurring character as is new trans intern Casey Parker. Hopefully, one or both will be promoted to a main role for Season 15.)

Now, if you need us, we'll be forming a prayer circle for April and Arizona because if either of them get killed off... we're taking EVERYONE to court.