Sandra Oh has announced that she’ll be leaving Grey’s Anatomy after its upcoming 10th season.
Sandra Oh has been known as Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy since the show premiered in 2005, and is among the few remaining cast members to stay on since the beginning. However, it seems that Oh is now ready to depart the show and move on, and we’ll be saying goodbye to Cristina after this next season finishes airing.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday afternoon, Oh shared that she’s finally ready to depart. “Creatively, I really feel like I gave it my all, and I feel ready to let her go,” she states.
“It’s such an interesting thing to play a character for so long and to actually get the sense that she wants to be let go as well. [Cristina] wants to be let go, and I am ready to let her go. We have to start the process, story-wise, for the Grey‘s writers to think of why she’s going to go.”
She began thinking about departing Grey’s Anatomy a year ago when her and her fellow cast members Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Justin Chambers, James Pickens, Jr. and Chandra Wilson all signed a two year contract to go on through the 10th season.
“I’ve gone through a lot of therapy over this,” she said emotionally. “I started thinking about it because I had to prepare myself. I gave myself two years to emotionally let go. At the end of last season, Shonda took me aside and said, ‘What are your thoughts?’ I said, ‘I’m ready.'”
If you’re worried that Oh’s departure from the story will spark more of the original six cast members to not stay on past the tenth season, you’re not the only ones.
Recently, Patrick Dempsey spoke with THR and noted that “whether or not we’re in the show, I think the show will continue on,” he said. “I know Shonda would like it to.”
But ABC doesn’t want the original cast to leave. In fact, they are hoping that the original members can stay on as long as possible. In a statement made by ABC, they claim, “It’s our intention to have Grey’s on the air for many years to come, with as many of the original cast as possible.” So maybe we’re worrying for nothing? Let’s hope so!
Regardless of if the original six continue their contracts, the interns on the show were all recently promoted to series regulars. It’s quite possible that despite several potential departures, the show may continue with a new cast taking the reins from the old.
As for Oh’s recent leave, we don’t know how Cristina Yang will be departing Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital just yet. Let’s just hope they don’t decide to kill her off!