Sandra Oh made a uncommon remark about her choice to exit Grey’s Anatomy amid wage renegotiations.
“At the end of season 8, [creator Shonda Rhimes] took me aside because we were all renegotiating and she goes, ‘What do you want to do?’” Oh, 55, stated on the Tuesday, July 28, episode of the “Dinner’s on Me” podcast. “I said, ‘Let me think about it.’”
Oh, who performed Cristina Yang since season 1, took the time to think about her future.
“The creative being will dictate and you have to follow it,” she famous. “You’ve gotta ask, ‘What do you want to do? What should I do?”
The actress in the end returned for yet one more season, including, “I felt very much like I did my job. I feel like I created a whole character. I grew the character in 10 years time — where it’s a believable growth. People do grow in 10 years and I think she really did grow.”
Oh concluded: “The privilege was to actually plan an exit and for all the writers to be able to support that. It’s extremely rare to have that. So that was a real, real gift.”
Before her exit, Oh starred on Grey’s Anatomy from its debut in 2005 till 2014. The actress acquired many nominations for her portrayal of Cristina and even received a Golden Globe for the position in 2005.
Oh has beforehand made it clear she has no plans to reprise the role.
“No,” she stated a few attainable return throughout The LA Times’ “Asian Enough” podcast in 2021. “I love it, though, and this is also why I really appreciate the show … that I still get asked this.”
Oh continued: “It’s very rare, I would say, to be able to see in such a way the impact of a character. 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.”
Grey’s Anatomy has weathered a mess of forged exits through the years together with lead Ellen Pompeo. After hinting at a departure, Pompeo, 56, confirmed in September 2022 that she would have a decreased position for season 19.
Pompeo starred in eight episodes that season earlier than exiting the present as a collection common in 2023.
Grey’s Anatomy just lately decreased the minimal ensures for its veteran forged members to 14 out of the present’s 18 episodes per season. Some fan favorites didn’t seem in as many as 4 episodes every whereas Caterina Scorsone’s absence was doubled after her character, Amelia Shepherd, selected to take a sabbatical.
Kim Raver and Kevin McKidd later exited the present, nevertheless it remains unclear whether there will likely be extra characters who received’t return in season 23.
Despite the shakeups, ABC remains to be dedicated to the franchise, with the community ordering a by-product to Grey’s Anatomy, which will likely be set in rural West Texas. The upcoming collection will likely be cocreated, written and govt produced by Shonda Rhimes and Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis. Pompeo can be govt producing the brand new offshoot, which is able to premiere midseason 2027.



