Sandra Oh Will 'Never, Ever Forget' Enduring Legacy of Her Grey's Anatomy Character: 'I Love It'

Though she has no plans to return to the medical drama, Oh says she loves "that people still love Cristina"

Sandra Oh in Grey's Anatomy
Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang on 'Grey's Anatomy'. Photo: Karen Neal/Walt Disney Television via Getty

Sandra Oh may not want to step back into Dr. Cristina Yang’s shoes, but she knows how important it was to walk in them in the first place.

The Grey's Anatomy alum, 52, has said many times that she does not want to return to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, which she exited after season 10. However, she recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “I love that people still love Cristina.”

It’s been over a decade since she left for good, but Oh revealed people still come up to her with stories of how her Grey’s Anatomy character has influenced their lives in massive ways.

“When there is a 15-year-old girl — and she wasn’t even born [when Grey’s premiered in 2005] — who then comes to me and is like, ‘I’m in medical school because of Cristina,’ I love it,” she said.

“I never, ever forget how important Cristina is,” she added. “I never do because those 15-year-old girls find me, and now 10 years on, I have much more appreciation for their appreciation.”

Sandra Oh attends the 35th Annual Producers Guild Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom on February 25, 2024 in Hollywood, California
Sandra Oh in 2024.

Elyse Jankowski/WireImage

Oh — whose stint on Grey’s earned her her first Golden Globe, as well as five Emmy nominations — has no desire to reprise her role on the hit medical drama, one of her former costars is always holding out hope for her return.

In March, Kevin McKidd, who plays Dr. Owen Hunt in the series, told PEOPLE he thinks he and Oh’s characters have some unfinished business — and he says her return to the Grey’s set  “would be really great television.”

“I was just talking about it the other night, I was like, ‘I feel like we should try and get Cristina to come back,’” he said of Oh, who played his former on-screen wife on the series.

GREY'S ANATOMY Kevin McKidd and actress Sandra Oh
Kevin McKidd and actress Sandra Oh on 'Grey's Anatomy'.

Craig Sjodin/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Exploring what that cameo may look like, he added, “And maybe it's something to do with some heart transplant or something that she has to show up or I don't know.”

McKidd, 50, also told PEOPLE that a conversation between the former couple would be “complicated,” to say the least.

“There's such a love between Cristina and Owen, and when they said goodbye to each other, they didn't really get a proper goodbye with each other,” he said. “It was kind of left hanging. Cristina was up there in the gallery and Owen was stuck in the OR, they literally just nodded at each other and she had to leave.”

Added McKidd: “So I think there's a lot of history there they would have to talk about.”

The Grey’s star also wondered what his character’s ex-flame is up to now, saying, “I wonder, is she married now? Does she have a husband? I don't think so.”

“I think she's still on this single-minded track and Owen's happily married with Teddy now, but there's all that history between him and Cristina,” he added. “I think it would be an amazing episode.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

For now, fans can catch Oh on the Robet Downey Jr.-led limited series The Sympathizer, which just wrapped its first season.

"In some ways, [doing The Sympathizer] was a choice based on working relationships, and then it really also encapsulated or included a purposefulness of how I want to be as an actor — not only onscreen, but off," she also told The Hollywood Reporter. "It really became something deeper for me, because I could really suddenly feel the past 30 years when I would walk on set."

Grey's Anatomy is available to stream on Hulu, and The Sympathizer is streaming in full on Max.

Related Articles