The cast of Grey’s Anatomy reunited at the 2023 Emmy Awards on Monday, January 15.
Ellen Pompeo, who starred as the title character, Meredith Grey, and Katherine Heigl, who played Izzie Stevens, presented together on stage during the awards ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. They were joined by former castmates Justin Chambers, who played Dr. Alex Karev, Chandra Wilson, who portrays Dr. Miranda Bailey, and James Pickens Jr., known to fans as Dr. Richard Webber.
The cast, who presented the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie to Blackbird’s Paul Walter Hauser, took a look back on the incredible 20-season journey Grey’s has taken since it premiered nearly two decades ago.
“When the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy aired in March 2005, I’m not sure [series creator] Shonda Rhimes knew she had created a show that would have such a lasting impression,” Pompeo, 54, told the audience. Heigl, meanwhile, admitted that the medical drama has seen “some changes over the years,” but there is one thing that has remained constant: the show’s fanbase. (Heigl famously exited the show in season 6, while Chambers made his departure in season 16.)
“You stayed with us through plane crashes, super storms and a global pandemic,” Wilson, 54 shared. As she revealed that season 20, which premieres later this year, will make Grey’s the longest-running primetime medical drama in TV history, all five actors took each other’s hands.
Grey’s has seen many characters come and go through the years due to various life-or-death plotlines, including a plane crash, a hospital shooting and a bomb explosion. Pompeo was one of the longest-standing actors on the series, starring from 2005 until her exit as a full-time cast member in February 2023. (She remains an executive producer, narrates each episode and makes guest appearances.)
Fans have missed their favorite doctors from years past, and their Emmys reunion was full of nostalgia. Heigl, 45, starred on Grey’s from 2005 to 2010 and even earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2007. Heigl requested to be released from her contract 18 months early in 2009, stating that she wanted to spend more time with her family. Onscreen, Izzie was fired from Seattle Grace after giving the wrong dosage of medicine to a patient, leading the character to leave Seattle and end her marriage to Alex Karev.
As fans know, Izzie and Alex’s love story had an unusual ending after Chambers, 53, announced he was leaving Grey’s in the middle of season 16. In a March 2023 episode, Alex sent letters to his wife Jo, Meredith, Bailey and Webber, revealing he was back together with Izzie. Although Chambers hadn’t appeared on-camera since November 2019, he provided voiceover for the dramatic episode.
Wilson, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly last year she’s “challenging” herself to stay on Grey’s until the very end, but viewers did see a brief exit from Dr. Bailey during season 18 when she quit and gave her Chief of Surgery position to Meredith. She returned the following season as an attending general surgeon.
Along with Wilson, Pickens, 69, is the only other OG cast member still on Grey’s, and he’s grateful for every moment.
“At that point in my career, when the show began, I was, you know, quote-unquote, a mature actor. So I already knew that these kinds of roles are few and far between,” Pickens told Bell Media in February 2023. “So to be able to grab hold of lightning in a bottle like that is more than I ever could have dreamed of. I truly feel blessed every day.”
