Richard Flood has officially removed his lab coat.
On March 3, Flood said goodbye to his role as series regular Dr. Cormac Hayes on Grey's Anatomy. During the episode, his character resigned as Head of Pediatric Surgery at Grey Sloan Memorial. And now, the actor is opening up about his decision to step away from ABC's popular medical drama.
"Having three years on the show felt right for me," he told Deadline. "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. I was very happy that everybody felt the same, and they just got to it."
Flood explained that the writers of the show ultimately decided how his departure would unfold.
"They came up with the exit," he said. "I didn't know until closer to when we were shooting how it would actually happen but there'd been a few conversations during the summer as far as how the season would unfold, and then during the season there were more conversations about what might be good [for the show] and what might be good for me."
In the end, the 39–year–old is "very happy" about the amount of time he spent on the show and is ready for his next adventure.
"When I started, I always thought that three years on something was really as much as I'd like to do," he explained. "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."
In other words: Don't count on seeing Flood in a dream sequence anytime soon.
"When I finish something," he added. "I kind of just let it go. It's done and there for people to see, and I don't tend to revisit it very much. I just let it go, it's in the back pocket, great experience, and move on."
While Flood may not miss Cormac, we sure will.
Tune in to Grey's Anatomy when new episodes air every Thursday on ABC.