Thursday, May 17 marked the end of an era for Grey’s Anatomy as the season 14 finale bid farewell to not one but two longtime stars — and thankfully this time no one had to die!
Leading up to the finale episode, it seemed almost certain that in true Shonda Rhimes fashion, at least one goodbye to either Sarah Drew’s April Kepner or Jessica Capshaw’s Arizona Robbins would mean a death, but fans gave a sigh of relief that that didn’t happen.
In the episode, April Kepner decided it was time to hang up her scrubs and leave her job at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and instead dedicate her time to working with the homeless and provide medical care to them. Most shocking of all was that while she tried to plan Alex and Jo’s fairytale wedding, she ended up getting her own! It all came full circle when her ex-boyfriend Matthew Taylor, who she left at the altar in season 10, proposed again. April accepted and married him right away with Arizona and Jackson as their witnesses.
As for Arizona, she decided that she needed to move to New York City with her daughter Sofia in order for her to be close to both herself and her ex-wife Callie Torres. While Sara Ramirez’s Callie didn’t make an appearance in the episode, Arizona did mention that she and Callie had been talking and things were going well which made many wonder if they would reignite their romance.
After it was revealed back in March that both actresses would not be continuing on with the series after season 14, they have shared messages of love and gratitude towards their fans and costars, with Sarah Drew sharing many emotional photos from her last days on set. Following the finale, Camilla Luddington who plays Jo Wilson shared an adorable photo of Jesse Williams (Jackson Avery) helping Sarah Drew go through her special gift from the cast. “****Both Sarah and Jess were gifted boxes full of letters from cast and crew addressed to them on their last day… Here is @ijessewilliams helping @thesarahdrew look through hers… #japril,” she captioned the post.