Dr. Cristina Yang will not be returning to Grey Sloan Memorial. On the premiere episode of the Los Angeles Times’ Asian Enough podcast, Sandra Oh said she will not consider making a guest appearance on Grey’s Anatomy.
“I love it, though,” Oh said of the long-running medical drama, on which she starred for 10 seasons. “This is also why I really appreciate the show… that I still get asked this.”
Though 49-year-old Oh doesn’t plan to return to Grey’s, she still appreciates the impact both the show and her character have had.
“It’s very rare, I would say, to be able to see in such a way the impact of a character,” Oh said. “In some ways, you do your work as a bubble and you let it go. I left that show, my God, seven years ago almost. So in my mind, it’s gone. But for a lot of people, it’s still very much alive. And while I understand and I love it, I have moved on.”
Moving on to projects like Killing Eve and The Chair, however, hasn’t stopped Oh from speculating about what Cristina would be up to today.
“Cristina, like I imagine all the healthcare workers, [would be] wickedly at the front line trying to solve the big problems,” she said. “This pandemic [has made] the wealth gaps… even more obvious and problematic, so [she] probably [is] attacking the systematic problems, not just the day in and day out.”
Viewers began hoping for Oh’s return when other fan favorite characters made surprise appearances on Grey’s, which was recently renewed for season 18.
Though Sarah Drew’s April Kepner made a guest appearance to help wrap up her ex, Jackson Avery’s (Jesse Williams), story, the other returns came as a result of Meredith Grey’s (Ellen Pompeo) COVID-19-induced dream state.
While in that purgatory of sorts, Meredith received visits from her dearly departed husband, Derek Shepard (Patrick Dempsey), sister Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), friend Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), and roommate George O’Malley (T.R. Knight).
“It was so beautiful. It was honestly like the most delightful homecoming ever,” Drew told ET’s Nischelle Turner. “And then just working with Jesse, because he’s so easy. It’s so easy to work with him. We have such a great relationship and partnership.”
While speaking to ET, Leigh said that her Grey’s return was “really special.”
“The tribute of this season is really towards first responders and their experience during the whole pandemic, so to be part of that was obviously very special,” she said. “And to be able to close the chapter for Lexie, and to appear in a way where she’s not eaten by wolves. Kind of bring a little life back to it… It was a special experience to be able to be part of that.”
