Sandra Oh Reflects on Saying Goodbye to Cristina Yang After a Decade on “Grey’s Anatomy”

More than a decade after bidding farewell to Cristina Yang, Sandra Oh is opening up about how that choice truly came together. She says the decision only crystallized after months of soul-searching and one candid conversation with the show's creator.

Sandra Oh is looking back on a defining chapter of her career. The "Grey's Anatomy" alum recently revisited her exit from the long-running medical drama, which wrote off her character during the season 10 finale in 2013.

Sandra Oh attends KALH Honors 2025 at Sofitel Hotel Los Angeles on December 7 in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Getty Images

Oh discussed leaving behind her beloved character on the July 28 episode of the "Dinner's On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson" podcast, tracing her decision back to a conversation with creator Shonda Rhimes that unfolded amid contract negotiations at the time.

"When it came to the end of season eight or nine, she took me aside, 'cause we were all renegotiating, and she goes, 'What do you wanna do?' And I said, 'Let me think about it,'" Oh recalled.

Sandra Oh stars as Cristina Yang on "Grey's Anatomy," circa 2005. | Source: Getty Images

The actress noted that she didn't rush the choice, instead taking stock of how far Yang's character had come over the years.

"The creative being will dictate and you gotta follow it," she said. "You've gotta ask it, 'What do you want to do? What should I do? What do you want to do?'" Weighing her next move, Oh ultimately concluded she'd given the role everything she had.

"I felt very much like I did my job," she continued. "I created a whole character. I feel I grew the character over 10 years' time, where it's a believable growth. People do grow in 10 years and I think she really did grow."

Sandra Oh stars as Cristina Yang on "Grey's Anatomy," circa 2008. | Source: Getty Images

Oh also expressed appreciation for the send-off Yang received, noting how rare it was to plan such a graceful departure.

The surgeon's storyline concluded with Yang leaving Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to take a position as chief medical officer of cardiothoracic surgery in Switzerland.

"The privilege was to actually plan an exit and all the writers to be able to plan and to support that," she added. "I know that it's extremely rare to have. That was a real gift."

Sandra Oh stars as Cristina Yang on "Grey's Anatomy," circa 2010. | Source: Getty Images

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in an emotional interview that same year she left the show, Oh confided that both she and her character felt prepared to move forward.

"It's such an interesting thing to play a character for so long and to actually get the sense that she wants to be let go as well," she told the outlet. "[Cristina] wants to be let go, and I am ready to let her go."

Still, she acknowledged the transition required significant emotional preparation. "I've gone through a lot of therapy over this," she said through tears. "I started thinking about it because I had to prepare myself. I gave myself two years to emotionally let go."

Sandra Oh stars as Cristina Yang on "Grey's Anatomy," circa 2012. | Source: Getty Images

Leaving the show also opened the door to new opportunities, including roles in 2014's "Tammy" alongside Kathy Bates and 2016's "Catfight" with Alicia Silverstone. "I was really very fortunate," she said. "You build the relationships, hopefully, for the circumstances to happen."

Ahead of the show's 10th season, Oh confirmed her departure in a 2013 statement to E! News, describing the decision as bittersweet.

"It was an emotional and deeply creative decision for me and I feel fully supported by Shonda and the writers," she wrote at the time. "It's so rare in an actor's life to be able to explore and grow a character so fully, so completely."

"I am profoundly grateful to everyone at GA for the opportunity," Oh said. "I'm excited to celebrate and cherish every moment of my final season on GA with the fans who have made it all possible."