‘Grey’s Anatomy’: How Did Justin Chambers’ Dr. Alex Karev Officially Leave Series?

Grey’s Anatomy officially said goodbye to Dr. Alex Karev on Thursday’s latest episode, attempting to give fans some closure after the actor’s abrupt exit from the series back in January. His final episode already aired in November but the storyline for his character, a fixture since the show’s debut in 2005, was left hanging.

Thursday gave fans a bow to tie around that story, including the surprise reveal of another long-lost character’s current status in the Grey’s universe.

Spoilers for Thursday’s Grey’s Anatomy follow below.

Chambers doesn’t physically appear in the episode but does deliver some narration behind his character’s letters he sent to Meredith, Bailey, and his wife Jo.

The bad news for Jo is that Karev is not only gone, but he has also reunited with his ex-wife Izzie Stevens, played by Katherine Heigl on the series until her famous exit in 2010. Karev didn’t just leave to go be with another woman he truly loved, saying so during the lengthy letters.

“I love Jo deeply, still. I think I always will and if it was just about two women I love, I’d choose my wife. You know I would, but it’s not just her. Izzie made our kids,” he wrote. “She had our embryos.”

The exit also stands as a result of the trial Meredith Grey endured earlier in the season. As Karev explains in the letters, he called Heigl’s Stevens and discovered that she had twins named Eli and Alexis. And he’s the father.

As he goes on to reveal, he left after the trial to meet his children and be with Stevens on their farm. She’s working as an oncologist and he is applying to a hospital nearby, hoping to head up the pediatric wing.

While his letters to Bailey and Meredith were emotional, with Karev calling Grey his “best friend” and that he “will miss the hell out of you but I’m finally exactly where I should be,” his letter to Jo had the true gut punch for fans.

The letter to Jo includes divorce papers that are already signed, with everything left to her and an explanation about who he truly loves.

“When I asked you to marry me, I meant it. When I told you I loved you, I meant it. But Izzie has our kids,” he wrote adding that he was truly “in love with Izzie.”

In the end, it is an ending that sure to get fans talking. It’s also sure to divide a lot of them on how one of the few original characters was written out of the series.