Ellen Pompeo Reveals ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Was Almost Named Something Else Entirely

Grey’s Anatomy almost wasn’t Grey’s Anatomy.

While ABC’s top primetime drama was ultimately named that, which took inspiration from the medical encyclopedia of the same name, it was almost named something else entirely.

During Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl‘s conversation for Variety‘s Actors on Actors, Ellen reminded Katherine of the almost name change.

“Remember they tried to change the name? Do you remember that day on set?” Ellen asked Katherine, who didn’t remember.

Turns out it was almost named Complications.

Ellen continued, revealing that was a “day I really remember, because the mood on set— they were like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna change the name of the show to Complications.’ In an odd way, this title sounds a bit too on the nose, even though that can be argued for its current title.”

“It was just like somebody had died,” she added. “Everybody on set felt that we’d been working so hard, we love this show so much, and if they changed the name to this? It would never go. It’s a horrible title.”

There were a few other titles that the show was almost named, including Surgeons, and just plain, Doctors.

Find out what else Katherine and Ellen talked about in their chat.