Kevin McKidd spent years imagining how his Grey's Anatomy exit would go. He pictured Dr. Owen Hunt dying in a blaze of selfless sacrifice, saving lives in his final moments. That is not what happened.
On the season 22 finale that aired May 7, titled "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Owen survived a bridge collapse and chose to follow co-parent Dr. Teddy Altman, played by Kim Raver, to her new job in Paris. The two characters walked away alive, reconciled, and together.
"I've been thinking about my character's exit for quite a few years. I'd been feeling like it was time for me to leave over the last couple of years, and not quite knowing how to do that," McKidd told The Hollywood Reporter. "I've been noodling it in my head and wondering how it should be. And my concept for Owen's exit from the show was that I always imagined he would die in some heroic fashion. That he would save somebody or save a bunch of people and lose his life."
His reasoning was rooted in the character's origins. Owen arrived on the show as a man broken by war, haunted by the loss of his entire platoon in Iraq. McKidd felt a heroic death would bring that arc to a fitting close. Showrunner Meg Marinis had other ideas.
"Meg was like, 'Listen, there's been quite a few exits of characters in the last few years of deaths,'" McKidd said. "She strongly felt that the fans didn't really have the stomach for that again. It's a lot of loss and a lot of grieving that fans have to go through."
McKidd and Raver were informed midseason that their characters would be departing in the finale, a decision driven by finances rather than creative choice. Marinis had previously described the conversation as a "painful" one. McKidd said it took some time before he came around to the idea of Owen getting a happy ending.
Beyond acting, McKidd directed his own farewell episode, adding it to a total of 49 episodes he has directed over his time on the show. He joined the cast in season three and remained for 18 seasons, making Owen Hunt one of the longest-running characters in the show's history.
When asked whether the door is open for a return, McKidd did not close it. For now, he described his departure simply: "It's a good thing. Listen, all good things must come to an end, right?"
