Sandra Oh Is Leaving Grey’s Anatomy

Sandra Oh has revealed that she plans to leave ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy at the end of the current season’s run. Oh has played cutthroat, hardcore surgeon Dr. Cristina Yang since the 2005 season premiere of the show. That’s a total of almost ten years on Grey’s Anatomy.

The actress sat down with The Hollywood Reporter, to reveal her reasons for leaving, although it’s pretty obvious given the fact that the cast just finished their two hundredth table read.

By playing a character for nearly ten years, the question remains how did Oh know when it was time to close shop on her character? Oh revealed that it wasn’t an easy conclusion to come to:

“Creatively, I really feel like I gave it my all, and I feel ready to let her go. 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.”

So what was the start in motion for Sandra Oh? The actress revealed it started when the “original six” signed on for two more years, which would take them through to the end of season ten.

On the difficult decision 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.'”

Oh broke the difficult news to her cast mates at Tuesday’s table read. Some of those actors had acted alongside the actress since 2005. Of parting with her character, she said: “For the first time, at least for my character, you actually have an endpoint, which in series television you never or very rarely have.”

What kind of ending would you like to see Cristina Yang have?