A decade later, Sandra Oh remains confident in her choice to leave “Grey’s Anatomy.”
In a recent appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast, “Dinner’s On Me,” the actress opened up about her departure from the iconic ABC medical drama in 2014 after ten successful seasons. Oh revealed she felt her portrayal of Dr. Cristina Yang had run its course, prompting her exit.
“As we neared the end of season eight or nine, Shonda Rhimes, the show’s creator, approached me during our contract renegotiations,” Oh shared. “She asked, ‘What’s your plan?’”
“I needed time to think it over,” Oh recalled. “And I gave it deep consideration.”
In the end, Oh, now 55, trusted her instincts and made the bold decision to move on from the immensely popular series.
“I felt very much like I did my job. I really did my job,” she shared. “I feel like I created a full character. I feel I grew the character [in] 10 years time, where it’s a believable growth.”
Oh added, “People grow in 10 years, and I think she really did grow.”
Cristina was written off the show at the end of Season 10 after taking up a new job at her ex Preston Burke’s (Isaiah Washington) advanced research institute in Switzerland.
Oh said the “biggest privilege” in her exit was that the writers were able to create a proper storyline that gave Cristina a satisfying send-off.
“And I know that it is extremely rare to have,” Oh noted. “So, that was a real, real gift.”
Earlier in the podcast, Oh spoke about how she originally auditioned for Chandra Wilson’s role as Miranda Bailey, but when she heard about Cristina, she knew that was the part for her.
“I was like, ‘That’s it. That’s the antagonist,’” Oh explained. “Clearly Meredith is the protagonist. That’s the antagonist, at least in the pilot. And I’m like, ‘I wanna do that.’”
Oh said her audition involved “a work session” that helped her shrug off her “jitters” and prove to Rhimes, 56, and the producers that she was right for the job.
But things took a turn when Oh’s manager demanded the actress walk out of the audition.
“My manager said, ‘Leave.’ Marsha said, ‘Leave. Leave. We can’t close your deal,’” Oh recalled.
“And I was just like, ‘Oh, okay. I guess I’m supposed to leave. Bye-bye.’ And then so I left, and I did not audition for the network.”
However, the show’s creative team didn’t give up on Oh and “just cast” her.
“It’s because I had that work session,” Oh explained. “So they could see what I could do.”
She added, “And that’s all that mattered was that Shonda, Betsy [Beers] and Peter [Horton] could see what I was and see what I could do.”