Ellen Pompeo jokes about the end of 'Grey's Anatomy': 'I've been trying to get away for years'

Grey's Anatomy is premiering its 18th season on Sept. 30, and Ellen Pompeo isn't looking much further ahead than that.

The titular Grey's star talked briefly with Entertainment Tonight while on the red carpet at Sunday's 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards, where she was of course asked about the future of prime-time television's longest-running medical drama in history.

"I mean, I've been trying to get away for years," the 51-year-old actress joked. "I have been trying. It's not because I haven't been trying. I have strong relationships at the network (ABC), and they have been very, very good to me and incentivized me to stay. And Debbie Allen and I ... creatively, as long as there's something to do — miraculously, we keep coming up with ways to have a reason to stay. And so, if there's a reason, then that warrants it."

When pressed if Season 18 could be the final season of Grey's, Pompeo remained tight-lipped and asserted she didn't want to be "disrespectful to people I've promised things to" because she is not supposed to say anything about the future of the show.

Earlier in the interview, Pompeo did dish on what it has felt like to have Kate Walsh reprise her role of Dr. Addison Montgomery in the forthcoming season: "Kate's amazing. That's one of my favorite things about the show right now is having original cast members come back. It's so fun. It's so nostalgic. And we all just have an incredible bond that's kind of hard to describe. And it's been a lot of fun, having everybody back."