“Grey’s Anatomy”’s Kevin McKidd Admits a Conversation Between Owen and Cristina Would Be ‘Complicated’ (Exclusive)
The ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star tells PEOPLE the onscreen couple never got “a proper goodbye” before Sandra Oh left the series in 2013
Kevin McKidd and Sandra Oh on “Grey’s Anatomy”
Kevin McKidd knows that his character Owen Hunt and Cristina Yang have unfinished business on Grey’s Anatomy.
The 50-year-old actor tells PEOPLE that he would like to see Sandra Oh, who played Cristina for 10 seasons, return to the ABC medical drama after she exited the series in 2013.
“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 shares of his former onscreen wife. “And maybe it’s something to do with some heart transplant or something that she has to show up or I don’t know.”
Kevin McKidd and Sandra Oh attend the 66th annual Directors Guild of America Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on January 25, 2014 in Century City, California.
Related: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Cast: Where Are They Now?
McKidd believes a conversation between the former couple would be “complicated because 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. 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,” he adds. “So I think there’s a lot of history there they would have to talk about.”
Along with many Grey’s Anatomy fans, the Rome alum questions what Cristina would be doing now.
“I wonder, is she married now? Does she have a husband?” he asks. “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.”
“I think it would be an amazing episode, maybe Owen has to travel somewhere, and here’s Cristina at some conference,” he suggests. “I don’t know, but I think it would be really great television.”
Sandra Oh and Kevin McKidd on “Grey’s Anatomy”
McKidd previously told PEOPLE he was encouraging Oh, 52, to return to the hit series.
“I would love — and I always say it — I would love Sandra Oh to come back,” he told PEOPLE at Grey’s Anatomy 400th Episode Celebration in Hollywood in May 2022. “I don’t think she will. She keeps saying she won’t. Every time I see her, I’m always needling her, going, ‘Come on, come on. Just one.’ Maybe one day she’ll say yes. I’m always working on her.”
“I think there’s a way to get her to do one more,” he continued. “She really is an artist. And when she moves on, she moves on. So, it’s not because of any bad feeling, it’s just she’s moved on.”
“We’re also really good friends,” he added, before joking, “So Sandra, I’m coming for you.”
Sandra Oh attends “The Tiger’s Apprentice” premiere event at the Sherry Lansing Theatre at Paramount Studios on January 27, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
In 2021, Oh shut down the possibility of reprising her role on Grey’s Anatomy, explaining on the Los Angeles Times‘ podcast Asian Enough that she’s “moved on.”
“It’s very rare, I would say, to be able to see in such a way the impact of a character. In some ways, you do your work as a bubble and you let it go,” she added. “I left that show, my God, seven years ago almost. So in my mind, it’s gone. But for a lot of people, it’s still very much alive. And while I understand and I love it, I have moved on.”
“I love it, though,” she added. “And this is also why I really appreciate the show … that I still get asked this.”
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
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