“I don’t feel the need to revisit, but I also profoundly understand the audience’s love for this character,” Oh shared of her beloved character Cristina Yang
Sandra Oh revealed what makes her consider the possibility of reprising the role of Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy
The actress said that returning to the hit ABC medical drama was a “hard no” for “the longest time”
Oh starred as the beloved doctor for 10 seasons before leaving the series in 2014
Could Cristina Yang return to Grey Sloan Memorial?
Sandra Oh, who played the beloved character for 10 seasons on Grey’s Anatomy, revealed that she would now consider donning the scrubs again after previously ruling out the possibility.
“For the longest time, it has always been a hard no. And it’s just… I don’t know. I just don’t know,” she told Entertainment Weekly as she searched for the right words. “When you finish something, it’s a deep process… I just cannot tell you… I can’t stress to you enough how consciously I tried to fully process leaving.”
“I don’t feel the need to revisit, but I also profoundly understand the audience’s love for this character, because I’ve seen it for the past 10 years,” she added. “That’s the part that makes me just go, hmmm.”
The Killing Eve alum, 53, revealed that she took the decision to leave the hit ABC medical drama “very, very seriously,” adding, “I knew in my gut that I had done as much as I could.”
“I really, really felt I did my job,” she explained. “I also was very, very cognizant that not many actors get to do this: create a full character and really live through their life, and then actually make the choice to come to a close.”
Ultimately, Oh shared that the writers planned her exit “beautifully” after she informed them early about her decision. “It also gave me time to move the audience with me to say goodbye to this character and wish her well,” she said. “And I think that — at least I hope — myself and the writers, we did that.”
Since her departure, Cristina has remained part of the show through text messages and letters, which gets Oh’s seal of approval.
“I am glad for the show to use the character as they see fit. Absolutely,” she shared. “The character should still be there to service the story — and so, yay!”
Oh’s comments come nearly four years after the actress shut down the possibility of reprising the role, explaining on the Los Angeles Times’ podcast Asian Enough that she’s “moved on.”
Recommended Article
“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,” she shared at the time. “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.”
“I love it, though,” she added. “And this is also why I really appreciate the show… that I still get asked this.”
Last year, she acknowledged in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that “people still love Cristina.”
“When there is a 15-year-old girl — and she wasn’t even born [when Grey’s premiered in 2005] — who then comes to me and is like, ‘I’m in medical school because of Cristina,’ I love it,” she said.
“I never, ever forget how important Cristina is,” she added. “I never do because those 15-year-old girls find me, and now 10 years on, I have much more appreciation for their appreciation.”
Her former costar Kevin McKidd, who plays Dr. Owen Hunt in the series, previously told PEOPLE he thinks he and Oh’s characters have some unfinished business — and he says her return to the Grey’s set “would be really great television.”
“I was just talking about it the other night, I was like, ‘I feel like we should try and get Cristina to come back,’ ” he said of Oh, who played his former on-screen wife on the series.
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
