EXCLUSIVE: Grey Sloan is losing a surgical intern. Midori Francis, who has played Mika Yasuda on Grey’s Anatomy for the last two seasons, is departing the medical drama as a series regular, Deadline has learned. According to sources, Francis is in negotiations to return next season to wrap up the story of her character.
I hear this was an amicable decision. Francis had been looking to branch out for the next step of her career and signed with WME earlier this year. She is the second Grey’s Anatomy series regular who will be departing early next season, along with Jake Borelli who has played Levi Schmitt for seven seasons. Reps for ABC and ABC Signature, which produces Grey’s Anatomy, declined comment.
The scrappy middle child with eight siblings, Yasuda is known for her dark sense of humor which has gotten her in trouble since Day 1 of her surgical internship. She has been part of a ragtag team of five doctors accepted into the newly launched teaching program at Grey Sloan at the start of Season 19.
More recently, Yasuda has been assisting Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) during her recovery from a life-saving surgery. On the personal front, Yasuda has been in a relationship with Taryn Helm (Jaicy Elliot) while rooming with Benson Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) and possibly losing her beloved 1975 Chevy G10 “Leona” as her former home broke down.
Before joining Grey’s Anatomy in 2022, Francis headlined her own series, playing Lily in Netflix’s Dash & Lily, for which she landed a Daytime Emmy Award nomination. She also starred in the first season of Max hit The Sex Lives Of College Girls as Reneé Rapp’s love interest Alicia. She guest starred on the show’s second season while on Grey’s.
Francis’ screen credits also include the Universal movie Good Boys, the Facebook Watch series The Birch, the Netflix film Afterlife of the Party and, most recently, Blumhouse’s Unseen. She also has starred in a number of stage productions, including Ming Peiffer’s Usual Girls, for which she earned a Drama Desk award nomination in the category of Best Leading Actress.