‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Fans Are Frustrated This Character Hasn’t Returned After Latest Episode

Meredith Grey has finally left the beach. The Grey’s Anatomy‘s star had been in a coma due to COVID-19 for much of Season 17, but Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) woke up at the end of Thursday night’s episode. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), her longtime surrogate father figure, was by her side when it happened and immediately thanked him for keeping her on a ventilator as the executor of her medical decisions. “I’m glad I chose you,” she told him.

However, fans were disappointed that Meredith’s best friend, Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), never made an appearance on her “Limbo Beach” before waking up. There were allusions to Cristina in last week’s episode, where the now Zurich based cardio surgeon was pushily texting her ex-husband Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) for updates about Meredith’s status, and many fans began to hope that she would follow the returns of Derek Sheperd (Patrick Dempsey), George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), and Mark Sloan (Eric Dane). Although the character isn’t dead like those returning castmates, a few living characters have found their way to Meredith’s subconscious as well.

Twitter is always abuzz with reactions to Grey’s Anatomy after new episodes, and fans expressed their disappointment that Meredith’s “person” never showed up. “The fact that we thought Cristina Yang was gonna show up [skull emoji],” one frustrated viewer tweeted. “I heard the beach and I was so ready for seeing Cristina Yang,” wrote another. “I think it’s about (sic) time to page Cristina Yang,” another fruitlessly tweeted. Cristina left the series at the end of season 10, moving to Zurich to run a state-of-the-art hospital, and fans have been hoping for a reunion of the Twisted Sisters ever since they last danced it out.

Fans should probably adjust their expectations, though. Oh was asked by ET Canada in October 2020 whether she would ever return to Grey’s Anatomy, and she made it clear that she had firmly closed the door on the medical drama. “I’m extremely grateful that you’re asking me that question because that means that people are still invested and interested in Cristina Yang — a character who I left six years ago,” Oh explained. “There are so many new projects and I’m a different person so I’m gonna have to say no.” Oh won a Golden Globe in 2019 for her role in Killing Eve.