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New characters come and go all the time on "Grey's Anatomy," and to say that Richard Flood's Dr. Cormac Hayes had an unorthodox introduction to the long-running medical drama is a massive understatement. In the season 16 episode "Let's All Go to the Bar," our protagonist Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) finds herself clashing with Cormac, the new head of pediatric surgery at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, only to discover that he's the "gift" her Switzerland-based best friend Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh, who left the show after season 10) kept telling her about via text message. Yes, Cormac used to work with Cristina in Zürich, so Cristina sent him as a "gift" for Meredith, hoping the two might strike up a romantic connection ... especially because Cormac is a widower with two children and Meredith becomes a widow with three children in season 11, when her beloved husband Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) dies from injuries sustained in a car accident. Ultimately, Cormac and Meredith's potential romance ended up sidelined in the "Grey's Anatomy" narrative due to the COVID-19 virus, which lands Meredith in a coma during the show's 17th season (the entirety of which focuses on the effect of COVID-19 on the surgeons at Grey Sloan). After that, Meredith ends up linked to Scott Speedman's Dr. Nick Marsh, leaving Cormac on his own at Grey Sloan. So why did Cormac and his performer Richard Flood leave "Grey's Anatomy?" In season 18, Cormac leaves Grey Sloan after he refuses to reveal some potentially illegal medicine being performed by Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), simply quitting rather than putting his friend's career in jeopardy. Still, there's another factor: Cormac's two sons want to return to Ireland, so he does what's best for his family. Even though Meredith meets Cormac right on the heels of her breakup with her subordinate, Dr. Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti), there's still a spark between them. As I mentioned, though, season 17 gives Meredith a near-deadly case of COVID-19 and sticks her in a coma shortly after she and Cormac agree to go on their initial date in the season 16 finale; still, it's really important to note that, while Meredith is bedridden with COVID-19, Cormac is often by her side, verbally encouraging her to fight for her loved ones and remember that her children are waiting for her in the realm of the living. (In fact, he urges her to "keep fighting" during a particularly pivotal moment when, during her coma, Meredith hallucinates Derek, marking Patrick Dempsey's brief return to the series.) In an interview with Richard Flood in November 2021 in Entertainment Weekly before his departure was confirmed, he spoke candidly about the romance plotline ultimately being shelved, especially thanks to the reintroduction of Dr. Nick Marsh (who, as of this writing, is still Meredith's romantic partner). Referencing his character's classic "Grey's Anatomy" nickname "McWidow," Flood said: "I think it's pretty clear that McWidow and Grey have a strong connection, a strong flirtation. I think last season was difficult, obviously, because she was in a coma. So it was impossible to explore the relationship any further except in his reaction to her being in a coma. So I suppose we got to see more of his side of it and maybe how deep those feelings were going, despite us not really being able to play the relationship." Still, Flood ended up leaving the show shortly thereafter ... so how did he feel about his exit? I already explained how Richard Flood's character Dr. Cormac Hayes left "Grey's Anatomy," but to reiterate: after Cormac discovers that his colleague is assisting veterans with terminal diagnoses who seek to end their lives, he doesn't want to tell on Owen (who once saved Cormac's life) but also doesn't want to risk his own medical license by becoming an accomplice. Instead, he simply quits and moves back to Ireland. As Flood told Deadline, the creative team behind "Grey's Anatomy" concocted his exit after there were "a few conversations during the summer as far as how the season would unfold," figuring out what would work best for both the character of Cormac and Flood himself. "Having three years on the show felt right for me, and I think that the arc of the character with all the developments in the story was probably coming to its natural end, which was great," Flood told the outlet. "I was very happy that everybody felt the same, and they just got to it." Not only that, but Flood said that he spent exactly as much time on "Grey's Anatomy" as he wanted to, at the end of the day. "Honestly, I was very happy," Flood admitted. "I felt it was the right time. When I started, I always thought that three years on something was really as much as I'd like to do. I'm always eager to see what else is out there and try and stretch myself in different directions and do different types of TV and film. Three years was perfect for me, so I was very happy." You can watch Flood's run as Dr. Cormac Hayes on "Grey's Anatomy" now on both Hulu and Netflix.
