The doctor is out. Thursday’s Grey’s Anatomy double header marked the end of Kelly McCreary’s nine-ish-season run as Maggie Pierce, the previously-unknown daughter of Richard Webber and the late Ellis Grey. As the actress sets off to pursue other opportunities, she spares a moment to discuss with TVLine Maggie and Winston’s split, that heart-swelling final shot and the love affair that weirded the audience out.

I was happily surprised that Maggie and Winston’s parting wound up being so, in a way, inspiring. Did you have a hand in that?
I thought, “I’m making this request to find a way to wrap up Maggie’s storyline.” Beyond that, I sort of had to leave it in the hands of the writers, and I loved the way they did it. It honored her time at Grey Sloan and with the family that she had made there in such a beautiful way. Yes, there were definitely bitter moments, but it wasn’t all bitter. Nothing is ever all one thing. Everything has elements of dark and light and shades of gray in between. So it was pretty wonderful to have that reflected in the last couple of episodes.

Was it hard for you to pull the plug on this on-screen relationship you’d worked so hard to build?
I feel like the way they did it was really right and appropriate. I also feel like, especially in comparison to the way Maggie’s previous relationships have ended, it was mature and civil. More than civil, there was real understanding and compassion between Maggie and Winston in the end. It leaves the door open for them [to reunite], maybe in some other universe, maybe in Chicago. [Laughs]

The last shot of Maggie with her two mothers was so powerful. What in your mind was Maggie thinking in the moment before she saw them and the moment after?
I think she was wrestling with the question of who is she and what does she want. She’s been doing that since she first got to Grey Sloan, but she’s been doing it more than ever since the conflict in her relationship began at the end of last season. She’s been like, “What am I doing? Who do I want to be? Where will I get the tools?” And she finds that she’s been given them by her mothers. And now, it’s like, “Great, what is my responsibility to their legacy? How do I take what they gave me and build on it and honor them?”

Do you think Maggie has thought through what it might feel like to come back to Seattle and find that Winston has moved on with someone else?
Oooh. That’s a great question. I think Maggie is living her absolute best life in Chicago, and she wants that for him. That is the beautiful thing that they leave each other with is that understanding. “I’ve gotta stay here, you’ve gotta go. It sucks. Maybe we could have worked it out if we were able to stay here together, but that’s really neither here nor there, because we just don’t want the same things out of life right now.”

Looking back, what story arc are you the most proud of?
It’s hard to rate them. I love the Diane stuff — and recovering from [her passing]. Maggie was going through such a difficult time, and she was handled with compassion and love by everyone but also with a firm shoulder shake by everyone at the hospital. That was beautiful. She went through a tough thing, and I love being able to keep that with her. I always thought of Diane and Ellis — they were the foundation of my backstory and all the choices I would make about the character and what she wanted. I always thought about what they gave her. It’s impossible to escape the influence of your parents, whether they’re here or not.

I’ve gotta ask. Fans had such strong feelings about Maggie and Jackson’s pairing. Did the stepsibling factor give you pause?
Honestly, I’ve gotta say, that was so weird, because they were not stepsiblings. They were not related at all! And they were adults. But I get it. Once something gets in your mind and sort of disrupts your ability to go along with something, you’ll find lots of reasons to criticize it. So that was what it was, I guess.

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