received star-billing in the seventh. The 6 original actors' contracts expired after season 8, but in May 2012, Pompeo, Oh, Chambers, Wilson, Pickens Jr. and Dempsey renewed their contracts with the show for another 2 years. At the conclusion of season 8, Leigh's character Lexie Grey departed from the show at Leigh's request, and with Rhimes's agreement. Raver's character Teddy Altman was also written out of the show during the season 8 finale. Rhimes said that Raver had been offered a contract renewal, but declined. In July 2012, Dane (Sloan) confirmed that he was departing the show to pursue other projects; he made his final appearances in the first 2 episodes of season 9. With the start of season 10, Camilla Luddington, Gaius Charles, Jerrika Hinton and Tessa Ferrer were introduced to the show as series regulars. They were first introduced to the show in season 9 as the new interns. On August 13, 2013, Oh (Cristina) announced that the show's tenth season would be her final one. In March 2014, it was announced that Isaiah Washington, who portrayed Preston Burke in the first 3 seasons of the show, would make a guest appearance to coincide with the departure of series regular Sandra Oh, his former on-screen love-interest. Neither Charles's nor Ferrer's contracts were renewed for season 11. On May 2, 2014, it was announced that, in addition to Pompeo and Dempsey, all the original remaining cast members—apart from Oh—signed 2-year deals, extending their contracts through seasons 11 and 12. Despite joining the series in season 2, Sara Ramirez was on the same negotiation schedule as the season 1 cast and also signed a new 2-year deal. On April 23, 2015, Dempsey departed the show during the show's 11th season, despite the fact that he still had a year left in his contract. On the night of the season 12 finale, May 19, 2016, Sara Ramirez announced that they would be leaving the show following the decision to not renew their contract. On January 17, 2018, it was announced by ABC that Ellen Pompeo's contract had been renewed through season 16. Not only did the contract renewal insure that Pompeo will return as Meredith Grey, but it made her a producer of Grey's Anatomy and a co-executive producer of Station 19. The deal made Pompeo the highest-paid actress currently on a dramatic TV series, with her making $575,000 per episode