Not the move! The Grey’s Anatomy showrunner revealed the reason she did not see killing off Justin Chambers’ character, Alex Karev, as a viable option.
“At the end of the day, there were three choices,” Krista Vernoff told TVLine in an interview published on Thursday, April 9. “Kill Alex off camera; have Alex be alive and in Seattle — and still married to Jo — and we just never see him; or [reunite him] with Izzie.”
Ultimately, the executive producer decided the third option was the best one. She told the website that she felt killing Alex would have been “cruel to everyone — particularly Meredith and Jo,” referencing Ellen Pompeo and Camilla Luddington’s respective characters.
“There was no way to not put those characters through gut-wrenching, ongoing grief if we had killed Alex off camera,” she added. “Some fans were upset, particularly the Jolex shippers, that [Alex left Jo to be with Izzie] — and I understand why. But I would fight real hard anyone who tried to tell me that fans would not have been equally or more upset if I had killed Alex Karev off camera.”
Vernoff also worried that having Alex remain in Seattle and married to Jo “would absolutely eliminate [the chance for her to play] so many colors that she is so good at playing.” Therefore, she said there was not “even a debate in the writers’ room” about going with the third option.
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Chambers, 49, shocked fans in January when he announced that he was leaving the ABC medical drama after 16 seasons.
“There’s no good time to say goodbye to a show and character that’s defined so much of my life for the past 15 years,” he said in statement to Deadline at the time. “For some time now, however, I have hoped to diversify my acting roles and career choices. And, as I turn 50 and am blessed with my remarkable, supportive wife and five wonderful children, now is that time.”
A source told Us Weekly exclusively in March that series creator Shonda Rhimes “is leaving the door open for a return, in any capacity, if [Chambers] wants to come back.”
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