Katherine Heigl certainly attracted attention recently when she matter-of-factly mentioned — while promoting her new movie One for the Money — that she’d love a return trip to Grey’s Anatomy. “I really, really, really want to see where [Izzie] is. I just want to know what happened to her and where she went and what she’s doing now,” she told E!. “My idea is that she actually, like, figures it out, and finds some success and does really well in a different hospital. She was always floundering, you know, and so she was always one step behind the eight ball and I want to see that girl take some power back.”
It was a canny movie by the equally canny actress. Not only did Heigl guarantee a flood of coverage, it got Grey’s fans wondering: Would the show ever take back the actress who once publicly dissed the drama that made her a household name?
From a stunt perspective, it would make for great television. Heigl hasn’t been on the show since 2010 and, at the very least, it would be nice to give Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) some closure. Izzie was terrible for leaving him the way she did, so it’d be nice for Alex fans to see the hunky doc have the last laugh by giving her the cold shoulder. And no matter how abrupt and awkward her exit was, Heigl’s Izzie was always a popular character — enough to garner the blonde a well-deserved Emmy in 2007.
Nevertheless, a source close to the show tells EW that a return trip doesn’t look good for Heigl, who once memorably said in 2008 that she did not put her name in for Emmy consideration because she did not feel she was given material to justify it. (She also complained to David Letterman that the 17-hour work days were “cruel and mean.”) Rumors soon followed that creator Shonda Rhimes has considered killing Izzie off in the following season, though she told reporters that she and the outspoken actress have a “really wonderful working relationship.” Yeah, sure: By 2010, Rhimes agreed to give Heigl an early out from her contract so she could pursue a movie career. Heigl had already took more than half of that season off, anyway, to make another movie and bond with her adopted daughter.
Then there was that little issue of the way she handled her final day that generated a new round of negative headlines: Heigl was due back on the set of the ABC drama March 1 of 2010 but she never showed up, though Heigl told EW that “rumors that I refused to return were totally untrue.” Huh? No matter how or when she actually left the show, that’s not the best way to leave things with a producer if you’re looking to stage a comeback.
It’s tough to know what motivated Heigl to talk about returning to the ABC drama. Perhaps her motives are pure and she does want to adequately finish what she started. I for one, dig the idea of an Izzie comeback. The actress brought great energy to the show and, let’s be honest, is never boring. (And I take the Fifth on some of her rom-coms).
What do you think? Let Rhimes and ABC know how you feel by sounding off below!
