“Grey’s Anatomy”'s Jake Borelli Says He Didn’t Want to 'Leave' Grey Sloan but Levi Had the Sendoff He ‘Deserves’ (Exclusive)

"I think it's so beautiful to see two gay men in a loving relationship like this, where they are willing to take huge leaps of faith for one another," Borelli tells PEOPLE

Warning: this story contains spoilers from the Nov. 14 episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Levi Schmitt is putting his time in Grey Sloan in the rearview mirror but the actor who plays the beloved doctor, Jake Borelli, may not be quite ready to say goodbye.

On the Nov. 14 episode of Grey’s Anatomy, Schmitt moved forward with the decision to accept a pediatric research position in the Lone Star State, but in a surprising leap of faith, he asked his new boyfriend James (Michael Thomas Grant) to come with him.

Borelli — who has played Schmitt since 2014 — tells PEOPLE that he is experiencing “all of the emotions” as he departs the series.

“It feels so crazy. I mean, I'm sure anyone can relate when you've been doing something for eight years of your life, it's a lot of emotions to say goodbye,” he shares.

Related: Grey's Anatomy's Jake Borelli Ponders If Levi Will Take a 'Big Vulnerable Leap' for Love as He Faces Crossroads (Exclusive)

While he is feeling mixed emotions about his exit, Borelli, 33, admits that the storyline that showrunner Meg Marinis and the series’ writers created has “really given Levi this arc that he deserves.”

“I think it's so beautiful to see two gay men in a loving relationship like this, where they are willing to take huge leaps of faith for one another,” he explains. “And I think it's beautiful to know that that's how Levi ends up, especially after a pretty tumultuous relationship with Nico and a couple of other failed attempts. And I think it's really heartwarming to know that he's going to be around someone who gets him and who can really communicate with him.”

He hopes the arc will allow the character to continue his journey off-screen, saying, “I think it also sets him up for some big changes in learning off camera that hopefully one day he can bring back and we can see how these big vulnerable choices have really changed this character that we really love. So I'm hopeful. It's open-ended, and we'll see.”

He explains the decision to end Schmitt’s journey at Grey Sloan was ultimately made by Marinis but he understands why it is important for the character to find new horizons.

Related: Grey's Anatomy: Mika's Fate Is Revealed, Schmitt Takes a Leap of Faith and Teddy Gets a Second Chance

“I think we've come to a point in Levi's story where his residency is ending, and that asks a lot of big questions to these characters about whether they stay at Grey Sloan where it's comfortable, whether they make a decision to move on and grow as a human,” he says. “And I think we've all been really yearning to see Levi grow past where he's at.” 

He continues: “I'm not sure exactly all the moving parts behind this as to why the decision was made for certain characters to move on, but I think it's really great that there's this open door to come back.”

The actor adds that he would “love to come back,” sharing, “To be honest, I didn't even want to leave and I haven't left yet.”

Related: 'Grey's Anatomy' Cast: Where Are They Now?

Borelli notes that he has been shadowing Debbie Allen, who in addition to playing Catherine Fox also serves as a director and executive producer of the show. He hopes that while “Levi's off in Texas, maybe [he’ll] haunt a Grey Sloan from behind the camera.”

Still, Borelli admits it was “pretty heartbreaking” to say goodbye to his costars.

“We've all become really close over the years,” he shares. “They're my family. We went through the pandemic together, we did a lot of stuff together, and it's never easy to see people leaving, but we did have these seven episodes to really cherish what we built and to really continue putting our shoulder behind queer representation for these last seven episodes.” 

The actor — who came out as gay in an Instagram post in November 2018 — recalls it being “terrifying” at first to be the first openly gay male on the long-running series.

“And while we had a lot of representation with Calzona, there wasn't any gay male representation really,” he says, referring to Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) and Callie Torres (Sara Ramírez). “And so when [former showrunner] Krista [Vernoff] came to me with the idea of him coming out of the closet, I knew how big it would be.” 

“And so therefore it brought all these old feelings of fear and ideas that queerness is like a death sentence for success in this world and stuff. And a lot of that came back to me,” he continues. “And thankfully, I talked to my family and we had a moment of courage where we said yes to it and it ended up changing my life, and it changed it for the better, and it opened up myself to a world I wouldn't have been able to enter fully into had I stayed in the closet in the way that I was.”

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Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.