‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Katherine Heigl Shoots Down Hopes for Her Return

Grey’s Anatomy hasn’t checked back in with Dr. Izzie Stevens in almost 10 years, and Katherine Heigl does not think it should happen at this point. The Suits star was asked if she would return to the ABC medical drama, even for the eventual series finale, and admitted it would be a “tough” decision to make. The actress left Grey’s during Season 6.

“I haven’t [thought about Izzie] in years. I don’t know. I don’t know if I would or if I wouldn’t,” she told Entertainment Tonight in a new interview. “I almost feel like that would almost be distracting again to, sort of, what they’ve done with that show in the seven years since I left… and what that’s become and what it is to the fans now.”

“It must feel like it would just be kind of like, ‘Yeah, we already let that go… why are you here?‘” Heigl added.

After being fired for making a mistake during the Seattle Grace’s merger with Mercy West, Izzie made a couple of other visits to the hospital and eventually decided to move on with another job and build a new life away from the hospital.

The last thing Izzie said to Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) before walking away was that the hospital was not her home, just a place where she used to work. Many seasons later, Jo (Camilla Luddington) encouraged Alex (Justin Chambers) to try to contact his ex-wife, but he said he wouldn’t want to ruin the fantasy he has of what her life became after she left.

Heigl looked back on her Emmy-winning character on the ABC drama as she prepares to say goodbye to Samantha Wheeler, her character on USA Network’s Suits, which will being its final season in July.

Reflecting on her two-season arc on the show, she admitted to the outlet that she was more worried about what happened to the legal drama’s core characters than her own.

“I haven’t even thought about it,” Heigl, who was a fan of the USA series before being cast last year, told the publication. “You know, what I’m thinking more about is the other characters. What’s going to happen to my favorite characters, you know? What’s going to happen with Donna (Sarah Rafferty) and Harvey (Gabriel Macht)? What’s going to happen with Louis (Rick Hoffman) and Sheila (Rachel Harris) and the baby? That’s what I’ve been thinking about.”

She admitted that while she’s handling the end of the series all right, she will miss working on it “a lot.”

“I’m going to miss being a part of it, but I’m gonna miss being able to watch it too,” she said. “Obviously being on it has changed my viewing of the show because just understanding even the space that they film in and being part of it kind of regularly now, versus watching it on television, has changed my viewership. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Like, I almost ruined it for myself.”

“… I’m more of a sort of bystander to all of that because I’m coming in, you know, the season before it all ends,” she continued. “I am wanting to hopefully just sort of stand quietly to the side and let the people who have really built this show and make it… and have made this family together have their moment to celebrate, to honor, and to be sad because I know they are.”

Suits returns for its final season July 17 on USA Network. Grey’s Anatomy — which has been renewed for Seasons 16 and 17 — will return with new episodes Sept. 26 on ABC.