Is Giacomo Gianniotti really leaving Grey’s Anatomy?
By Cody Schultz
If there is one thing Grey’s Anatomy fans have become accustomed to it’s constant changes to the show’s cast, often with little notice at all. Throughout its seventeen seasons, Grey’s Anatomy fans have been forced to bid farewell to countless beloved characters who for one reason or another are written out of the show.
While some characters are written off in a way that leaves the door wide open others aren’t so lucky, meeting untimely and often heartbreaking demises. It’s for this reason, whenever a character ends up in a possibly life-threatening situation fans immediately jump to the worst possible conclusion.
Warning Grey’s Anatomy season 17 spoilers ahead!
During a special crossover event, the Greys Anatomy writers finally brought an end to the human trafficking story previously introduced in season 16 with Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) joining his sister Carina (Stefania Spampinato) on a chase to stop the sex trafficker from fleeing capture once again.
While they were able to bring her to justice, during his chase to stop the trafficker, Andrew was stabbed by a mysterious man putting his life in the balance. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy (Kim Raver), Andrew died on the OR table after complications from his injuries.
The character’s death brings an end to Giacomo Gianniotti’s run on the show, which first began back in season 11. While it’s possible he might appear down the line for a cameo, Andrew DeLuca’s story seems to have reached its end.
Why did Grey’s Anatomy kill off DeLuca?
While some characters have been killed off due to an actor’s decision to leave the show, the character of Andrew DeLucas was killed off for story purposes. As showrunner Krista Vernoff revealed following the character’s final episode, the decision to kill DeLuca off was to bring a conclusion to the trafficker storyline.
Why did Giacomo Gianniotti leave Grey’s Anatomy?
Giacomo Gianniotti left Grey’s Anatomy after his six-plus year run as Andrew DeLuca following the death of his character, Dr. Andrew DeLuca. Although some actors left Grey’s Anatomy on bad terms, Gianniotti left on good terms in exiting the show as a result of his character’s journey on the show coming to an end.
As Gianniotti noted in an interview following his final episode of the series, the writers felt the best way to bring Andrew DeLuca’s story to an end was in allowing him to die a hero’s death in bringing closure to the trafficker storyline.
Because Gianniotti is leaving the show on good terms, it’s likely we could see him return to reprise the character in a future episode as Grey’s Anatomy has found ways for actors to return for guest stints even after their characters were killed off.