Sandra Oh Leaving 'Grey's Anatomy': 'I'm Ready to Let Cristina Go'
Sandra Oh is leaving "Grey's Anatomy" after 10 seasons playing Dr. Cristina Yang. Oh explained that she just felt it was time to let the character go, which will provide an interesting twist to the series created by Shonda Rhimes.
"Creatively, I really feel like I gave it my all, and I feel ready to let her go," Oh told The Hollywood Reporter. "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."
"We have a story that we want to tell and we want to tell it really well, and that story isn't about her leaving the show as much as it is Cristina Yang's growth as a person and as a surgeon," Rhimes told THR.
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This time, instead of waiting until the last minute, Oh told Rhimes about her desire to leave in advance, giving Rhimes the opportunity to craft an appropriate ending for the character's story.
"I know Sandra pretty well," Rhimes said. "I would hope that it wouldn't be happening – but I also know Sandra, and I know that it's time for her to have new challenges. I get to have new challenges all the time because I get to create other shows, but she doesn't get to do that, so I fully understood it."
There are still plenty of questions about the new season, especially when it comes to who's in and who's out. The rest of the "original six" (Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo, James Pickens Jr., Chandra Wilson and Justin Chambers) have yet to decide whether they will stay for another season.
"I've gone through a lot of therapy over this," Oh said. "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.'"
"Grey's Anatomy" premieres on September 26 with a special two-hour episode.
