Say it ain’t so! Katherine Heigl was just as surprised by Patrick Dempsey‘s exit from Grey’s Anatomy as everyone else. In an interview while promoting her new indie flick, Jackie & Ryan, the woman formerly known as Dr. Izzie Stevens said she was having a hard time envisioning Seattle Grace without McDreamy.
“I just can’t even imagine the show without McDreamy,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I just can’t! It’s so hard to picture.”
While Dempsey’s Derek Shepherd was killed off in a shocking April episode, Heigl’s character was simply written off after six seasons following her high-profile complaints about the series and her material on the show. So, is there any truth to the rumors that she’s planning to hit the operating room once again in a Season 12 episode?
“There’s not. I’m sorry,” the mom of two said. But could she return in the future? “I think that’s — I don’t know how to answer that,” she said with a laugh.
Although Heigl, 36, once famously withdrew her name from the Emmy ballot because she didn’t think she was “given the material … to warrant a nomination,” she now has nothing but nice things to say about the show and its space in the pop culture landscape.
“[It] was just an incredible experience for me. It changed the course of my life and career and I couldn’t be more grateful,” she said of her six years on the series. “I just hope it goes for as long as they all want it to.”
