Grey’s Anatomyfans thought they were prepared for “Tradition,” which was advertised as Jackson Avery’s (Jesse Williams) swan song, last night, after he revealed his intentions to leave in the previous episode, “Look Up Child.” (He was to be accompanied, in a delightful twist, by his ex-wife April, Sarah Drew, who departed the series at the end of Season 14). After twelve seasons on Grey’s Anatomy, Jackson was moving on to change the world. But another Grey’s Anatomy character wanted to go with him: Tom Koracick (Greg Germann)
Last night, Jackson quit his job at Grey Sloan Memorial and informed his colleagues of his plans to head to Boston to run the Catherine Fox Foundation. But in a twist no one could see coming, after Jackson finished saying his goodbyes and was preparing to head home for his last night in Seattle, he received a surprise message from Tom asking to meet.
It turns out, Tom wants to go with him—and Jackson said yes.
Why is Tom Koracick leaving Grey’s Anatomy?
Season 17 has been a rough one for Tom Koracick, who was introduced as a recurring character in Season 14 and promoted to a series regular in Season 16. Along with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Tom was hospitalized with COVID-19 early in the season, not long after getting his heart broken yet again by Teddy Altman (Kim Raver). After a rough go of it, Tom pulled through, but his brush with death caused him to reexamine his life.
Since he was first introduced as Amelia Shepherd’s (Caterina Scorsone) mentor, Tom has always been prickly and arrogant, a neurosurgeon rockstar who never hesitates to let everyone around him know that he’s the smartest person in the room. Gradually, though, we got to see that at least some of his off-putting personality was a defense mechanism, after losing his son at a very young age and having his marriage fall apart as a result.
Eventually, Tom fell in love with Teddy Altman and was prepared to start building a new life with her. But she ultimately left him to begin a relationship with her long-time best friend, Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd). However, after Owen and Teddy got engaged, Tom and Teddy began sleeping together in secret—only to have Teddy choose Owen over him yet again when Tom suggested they run away together at the end of Season 16.
While Tom was still processing his heartbreak, he came down with a severe case of COVID-19, and was hospitalized for several weeks. During his stay in the hospital, as he revealed in “Tradition,” six of his roommates died, all men of color. After Tom was discharged and able to resume his duties, he couldn’t shake the lingering sense that he needed to make a change in his life.
“I just felt like I owed it to them to be better,” he tells Jackson. “Because chaos and injustice and pain…the world is only that way because we let it be, or because people who look like me made it that way. So what I’m saying…let me become worthy of being spared.”
He goes on to offer to do anything Jackson wants him to do, whether that’s using his skills as a neurosurgeon or an administrator or as his on-call ignorant white person whisperer. He even offers to forgo a salary and title as long as he’s able to help. Looking both bemused and begrudgingly impressed, Jackson agrees, telling Tom that he’ll text him an address in Boston, and that work begins Monday at 6 a.m.
Why is Greg Germann leaving the Grey’s Anatomy cast?
While Tom Koracick is leaving Grey Sloan to become a better person and affect positive change in the world, Germann won’t be hurting for work. He’s currently acting in Herding Cats by Lucinda Coxon, a production that fuses in-person and livestream theater. Germann performs live from a soundstage, and his performance is livestreamed to a theater where Jassa Ahluwalia and Sophie Melville perform alongside him in front of a live audience.
Germann is grateful for his time on Grey’s Anatomy, saying in a statement to Deadline, “To have worked with all the incredibly talented people involved with Grey’s over the past few years has been such a privilege. A big thank you to the fans as it has truly been a shared experience!”
As for Krista Vernoff, executive producer and showrunner of Grey’s Anatomy, she has nothing but positive things to say about the exiting star. “Greg Germann is a comic genius and we are so lucky that he brought his talents to our show these last few years,” Vernoff told Deadline.
Will we ever see Tom Koracick on Grey’s Anatomy again?
While Tom’s departure was shocking, the door seems wide open to return. “We will miss Greg terribly in the day to day,” Vernoff told Deadline, “but we plan to see Tom Koracick again!”
ET also confirmed Germann is leaving “as a series regular after the latest episode, but he is expected to pop in as a guest star in the future.”
Whether that means checking in with Tom in Boston, or having him fly back to Seattle on occasion remains to be seen. Of course, there’s always the Jackson and April Boston spinoff idea that Sarah Drew pitched to reporters following her guest appearance in “Look Up Child,” which she said could follow the former couple as they “change the world of medicine.” Given the passion with which Tom spoke about wanting to make a difference, it seems like he would be right at home in such a hypothetical show.
