Medical drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ will soon wrap up its eighth season, and with the status of several stars’ contracts in question, the finale is set to feature at least one character death and several potential exits for those who will not return next season.

Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Justin Chambers and Patrick Dempsey are among the original stars of the series, which premiered on ABC in March 2005. They all have deals expiring at the end of the 2011-2012 season, and fans have speculated for months over who will be back for a ninth season in the fall. While ABC has yet to formally renew ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ for a ninth season, the series remains one of the network’s strongest programs and a Thursday night anchor, so a renewal is all but a given.

Pompeo portrays main character Meredith Grey, therefore one would assume that the future of the series is dependent on her renewing her contract for another season. Back in September, Pompeo told TV Guide Magazine, regarding her returning next season:

“I would love the opportunity to discuss it. I would never turn up my nose at Grey’s. As long as the stories are honest and truthful … and I feel there is material for us to be passionate about, it still beats a nine-to-five job any day. If I hear from the fans that they want us to keep going, then I would continue because we owe them everything.”

Similarly, Oh, who has won a Golden Globe and SAG award for her portrayal of Cristina Yang, told ‘George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight’, in April, that:

“In my heart of hearts, I’ll tell you this: I love my job. I do. I love my job, and I love the show, and I love that character, and I would love to continue playing her.”

Chambers, who plays Alex Karev, sounded unsure last summer when he told TV Line:

 “I don’t know if I’ll go farther. I don’t know if the show will go farther. When we get to that point, we’ll go from there… We know it’s going to end sooner or later. It’s just about ending well and the audience getting what they want out of it.”

Shonda Rhimes, creator and executive producer, has finalized her plans for the season finale and it has now been revealed that one character will die. The character’s identity is unknown, however, there are suggestions that the departing actor will be one of the cast whose contract does not expire this season. Whatever happens, Grey’s weekly audience of 10 million viewers will be tuning in on May 17th to see how things unfold.

Image Courtesy of   http://abc.go.com

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Janet Evanovich, author of the popular Stephanie Plum series, decided Katherine Heigl would be perfect for the lead role in a movie based on her book, One for the Money, after she saw Heigl’s performance in 27 dresses. “I just knew it,” Evanovich told the actress. “From that instant, you were Stephanie Plum to me.”

The instant she is referring to is when Heigl’s 27 Dresses character fled from a bar, cursing loudly. The movie is an adaption of Evanovich’s first book and is set to hit theatres in January. It has been 17 years since the first novel in the Plum series was released, and Heigl will play the role of main character, Stephanie Plum, who goes from being a lingerie salesperson to a bounty hunter.

The book series has sold 80 million copies with nine landing at the number one spot on USA Today’s best sellers. Evanovich stated, “I don’t know why it took so long, but as far as I’m concerned, the search is over. Every time I write Stephanie Plum, it’s going to be Katherine Heigl’s face there. She totally nailed it.”

The author just released the 18th book in the series, Explosive Eighteen. Although Evanovich gave up any say in the casting for the main role and had sold the rights to One for the Money before being published in 1994, her ideal actress to play Stephanie Plum still got the part.

Names of certain actresses sometimes cropped up from time to time as potential leads, but none were who the author wanted. “Every now and then, I would get a phone call that would be: Jennifer Lopez is going to be attached to this,” said a disinterested Evanovich. “Or, Reese Witherspoon. There was never anybody really there.”

Many fans wanted Sandra Bullock, but the author was still not satisfied with any Hollywood actresses. “I had been going around to everybody saying Katherine Heigl has to be Stephanie Plum, and then one day, I got that phone call saying that it was Katherine,” said an excited Evanovich. Heigl, herself, was pleased to be chosen for the role.

When she was working on the set of The Ugly Truth, producer Gary Lucchesi gave her a copy of Evanovich’s One for the Money, and Heigl loved it. “Two months later, someone was able to get me to come out of the bedroom after I had gone through 10 books. (They are) so addicting,” said Heigl.

Lucchesi and Lakeshore Entertainment got the rights and chose Heigl to star as Stephanie Plum. However, the fans were not happy that blonde Heigl would be playing the brunette bounty hunter. Heigl said she tried dying her hair brown, but decided instead to wear a wig. The actress enjoyed going to the gun range to train for her role, but she said she had a hard time with the New Jersey accent.

“It was nerve-racking,” she said. “There were moments I saw it wavering. I’m normally the jerk in the audience who goes, ‘Blah, they totally lost the accent there.’ This was karmic.” Heigl claimed to be very vocal about staying true to the original story. “I became very possessive of Janet’s material. I was really loud about how important it was to honor the book,” she insisted.

Evanovich was kept in the dark and did not know how the movie would turn out. “I was terrified to see it,” the author said. “But when I did, it was everything I could have wanted and more. I was almost in tears when the movie ended. I was so relieved.” Heigl was ecstatic that she was happy with the movie and ended up developing a friendship with the author. The two talked about future plans for more Plum movies.

However, since there are 18 novels so far, it would be an impossible feat for Heigl to star in each one, since Stephanie Plum stays at age 32 during the entire series. “You’ll have to go to the gym and no Cheetos,” said Evanovich. Heigl jokingly claimed she could prevent aging with botox, then said, “But if we shoot six at a time, there we go.”

Image Courtesy of  https://www.facebook.com/KatieHeigl

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