I don't know if you remember this or not, but Katherine Heigl kinda had a rough time toward the end of the Grey's Anatomy portion of her career. Of course, I'm kidding when I ask if you remember, because literally everyone who pays attention to television and was doing so back before the turn of the 2010s knew that Heigl's breakup with Grey's was one fraught with behind the scenes difficulty. The actress has been asked plenty of times since then if she'd consider returning, and now it sounds like Heigl might be warming up to the idea of heading back to her old stomping grounds.
Katherine Heigl immediately became one of Grey's Anatomy's many breakout stars after the soapy medical drama debuted in the spring of 2005. Fans got to watch as Heigl's Izzie Stevens went through some very serious ups and downs, including a marriage and divorce from her fellow surgical intern, Alex Karev, and a battle with cancer that nearly took her life. However, it didn't take long for issues off screen to catch up to Heigl's run as Izzie, and the actress left about half way through Season 6. Heigl was recently asked by E! whether or not she'd consider returning to Grey's, and had this to say:
You know, I just...I don't know. But I would never say never.
Oooooh. OK. Look, I realize that this answer might not seem like a big deal, but Katherine Heigl has never been even this mildly open to the possibility of revisiting the halls of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital before. It was almost two years ago, in fact, that Heigl said she felt any fans who had hoped to see Izzie again had likely long since gotten over that desire, and admitted that if she did show up on Grey's Anatomy it would probably be "distracting" for them.
Now, however, Heigl at least seems to be ready to consider the idea of going back. But, of course, she'd have to be asked to do that, and considering how much drama surrounded her early departure from Grey's (she asked to be released from her contract a whole 18 months early) there is a very slim chance that such a thing will happen. Though, as Heigl noted in her interview, I can bet that the producers on Grey's are probably also thinking "never say never," especially after what went down in Season 16.
It was just last season on Grey's Anatomy that the sudden departure of another of the original actors, Justin Chambers, led to a shocking character development for fans. Chambers' Alex is the one who'd been married to Izzie, and after he got back in touch with her to help out Meredith, Izzie revealed (off camera, of course) that she used the embryos they froze while married to have their twins. To release Chambers from Grey's, the writers chose to have Alex abandon his relatively new wife, Jo, and go live in the country with Izzie and their twins.
Fans were not pleased with the development, but now that I think about it, I do wonder if that plotline is the reason why Katherine Heigl now sounds a lot more open to maybe heading back to the show which made her famous, should she ever be asked to do so. Can you imagine how much good drama there'd be to play with if Izzie (or Izzie and Alex) took a visit to Seattle at some point in a coming season while Jo is still around? I bet Heigl wouldn't mind getting a chance to work through something like that with the characters.
Obviously, there's no word right now on whether or not Izzie (and Katherine Heigl) could actually show up on the series again, but we'll certainly be here with the details if this ever becomes a reality. For now, you can keep up with Season 17 of Grey's Anatomy, which airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST. New episodes return on March 11, but in the meantime, you can see what else is new with our guide to early 2021 premieres!
