It's been about seven years since Dr. Cristina Yang clocked out of Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital for the last time, but given the show's recent surge in beloved characters reprising their roles in Season 17, rumors have arisen that Sandra Oh could finally get into her medical scrubs once again. But unfortunately, fans wondering whether Sandra Oh will return to Grey's Anatomy shouldn't get their hopes up, because she totally shut down those rumors recently. The actor got real about why she feels she's moved on from playing Cristina Yang on The Los Angeles Times' "Asian Enough" podcast.
Oh played Cristina Yang for the first 10 seasons of Grey's Anatomy, leaving the series in Season 10's finale in 2014. Since Yang is one of the show's most beloved characters and wasn't killed off (she moved to Zurich for a new job), fans have been hoping for her to return for years. It seemed like fans could possibly have gotten their wish when Season 17 started. The COVID-themed season saw Meredith Grey reuniting with so many long-gone fan-favorites in her beachy dreamscape, from her sister Lexie to McDreamy himself. With so many beloved characters coming back, fan theories arose that Yang could make her return as well, but Oh squashed those rumors when asked about a potential return, responding with a definitive "No."
"I left that show, my God, seven years ago almost. So in my mind, it’s gone," Oh said on the podcast. "But for a lot of people, it’s still very much alive. And while I understand and I love it, I have moved on."
While Oh's statement may be a bummer for Grey's fans, everyone who loved Cristina Yang can still watch Oh deliver incredible performances on a bunch of other shows.
"pPease come with me to Killing Eve and on to [the upcoming Netflix series] The Chair and on to the other projects,” Oh said. “Come see the characters that I’m playing that are much more deeply integrated in … the Asian American experience."
Although she won't be making a return to Grey's, Oh did imagine what her character is probably up to these days. She said Yang is likely checking in on Meredith's condition from abroad and working tirelessly to combat the spread of coronavirus while also trying to fix systemic issues the pandemic has exposed within the medical field.
"Cristina, like I imagine all the healthcare workers, [would be] wickedly at the front line trying to solve the big problems," Oh 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."
Having just been renewed for Season 18, Grey's is showing no signs of ending anytime soon, but unfortunately for Cristina Yang stans, it sounds like Meredith isn't going to be reuniting with "her person" in any future episodes.
