Grey's Anatomy star dispels rumours he's leaving: "I'm not going anywhere"

In his new role as Chris O'Neill, McKidd is acting as a police officer for the very time in his career – but the series also marks a return home to Scotland for the native-born actor, with Six Four primarily being shot in Glasgow.

But does the new role mean a new career direction for McKidd, and perhaps a goodbye to his 14 season reign in the hit medical drama? Devoted Grey's Anatomy fans will be pleased to know that it doesn't.

Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com about Six Four, McKidd quickly dispelled any rumours and fan theories over his departure from Grey's Anatomy. He said: “I would love to do more limited series like [Six Four]. I love playing my character on Grey’s, I love what it’s done for my life and it’s like a family. Truly.

"We’ve been there so long, we’ve seen people have babies, get married, have sad things happen in their lives, kids' graduations, it’s been so long now. It’s like my extended family so I’m not going anywhere any time soon from that show."

He continued: “But do I want to work more in Britain when I get the chance? Absolutely, I’ve really missed it. I’ve missed the work ethic, the humour, the quality of British drama and I just love the crews. I love British actors, I’ve missed it.

"It’s felt like a real homecoming for me and I want to do more of it, but that is not me saying that I’m leaving Grey’s anytime soon. I’ll be there for as long as they want me to be there.”

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Talking about the long-running drama warrants mention of Ellen Pompeo, who recently stepped back from her regular, titular role in Grey's Anatomy. But McKidd teases that it isn't a goodbye for her, stating: "Ellen has been in the show since season 1 in the pilot episode, she was in the first shot of the show. She deserves a break and she deserves to go and do some other things.

"The truth is… she’s going to come back, there’s going to be moments where she revisits, she’s not actually gone. But she’s definitely taken a step back, I’m happy for her. We all miss her, she really is part of the signature of our show."

He added: "She’s very much the heart of the show. But you know, I’m happy for her. It’s really good for her. It’s been 19 years, that’s a long time to commit to one show. And I think she’s excited for some of the things that she’s getting to produce and act in and do. I’m just really happy for her.

"When we do get to see her, it’s always fun; it feels nice to have her come back. She came back the other week just to say hi and that was lovely. She’s a producer on the show so it feels like a goodbye but it really isn’t, if that makes sense."

Throughout his 14 seasons in Grey's Anatomy, McKidd has also directed multiple episodes and says that he hopes the drama continues for a very long time. While it is yet to be renewed for season 20, McKidd said: "I think we’re going to keep going for as long as we can at this point.

"I will never – and none of us on the show at this point – will have another show or experience like this in our careers. It’s a world phenomenon, it has a global reach. None of us expected that, we were just in this little studio shooting the show nine months of the year. And when you do pop your head out the studio, you realise it still has this big impact across the world.

"So I think we built something over the years that we’re all really proud of and I think we continue to feel proud of. So I think we’re just going to keep going until it feels like the natural time to stop."

He added: "I think we’ve got at least another couple of seasons. I don’t know beyond that, but I can see us getting until at least season 20, 21 maybe."

Six Four launches on ITVX on Thursday 30th March. Grey's Anatomy seasons 1 to 18 are available to stream on Disney Plus now – sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now. New episodes of season 19 are airing on Sky Witness in the UK and are also releasing on Disney Plus.

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