Grey's Anatomy Star Kevin McKidd Wants Sandra Oh's Cristina To Return For One Key Reason
"Grey's Anatomy" just launched its landmark 20th season — and whether you love Kevin McKidd's Owen Hunt or think he's the worst TV character ever, he's still a part of the main cast. So what does McKidd hope might happen to Owen as the long-running medical drama continues? Apparently, he hopes his character might get a chance to reunite with his first on-screen wife Cristina Yang, played by Sandra Oh.
Oh left the show at the end of its 10th season in 2014 and has moved on to huge projects like "Killing Eve" and "Quiz Lady" since then — but McKidd hopes she might return to "Grey's Anatomy" for some sort of cameo. Speaking to People, McKidd said, "I was just talking about it the other night, I was like, 'I feel like we should try and get Cristina to come back.' And maybe it's something to do with some heart transplant or something that she has to show up or I don't know."
So why exactly does McKidd think that Cristina and Owen need to reunite? As he puts it, the situation between the ex-couple is "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."
Kevin McKidd wonders what Sandra Oh's Cristina Yang would be doing now
Fans of "Grey's Anatomy" know that when Sandra Oh elected to leave the series as Season 10 drew to a close, she was written off perfectly. After reuniting with her former flame Dr. Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) in Zurich, Cristina is offered the chance to take over Burke's entire hospital and oversee groundbreaking cardiothoracic research. She says yes and leaves Seattle for good, and though she gets a fitting send-off overall (a dance party with her best friend and "person" Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo), she and Owen have a very brief farewell, as Kevin McKidd recalled.
"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," the actor said. "So I think there's a lot of history there they would have to talk about."
McKidd then wondered what Cristina Yang would be doing now; that's likely something many "Grey's Anatomy" fans have wondered since Oh has never reappeared on the show, though Cristina occasionally pops up in phone calls to Meredith, sight unseen. "I wonder, is she married now? Does she have a husband?" McKidd mused. "I don't think so. I think she's still on this single-minded track and Owen's happily married with Teddy [Altman, played by Kim Raver] now but there's all that history between him and Cristina."
Cristina Yang and Owen Hunt had a passionate and dysfunctional relationship on Grey's Anatomy
"I think it would be an amazing episode, maybe Owen has to travel somewhere, and here's Cristina at some conference," Kevin McKidd concluded. "I don't know, but I think it would be really great television."
While it would be amazing to see Sandra Oh return to "Grey's Anatomy" — Cristina was a major highlight of the show and has been sorely missed since her departure nearly a decade ago — the idea of her reuniting with her ex might feel troubling to some fans of the series. Fans hated Owen and Cristina's wedding, for starters, and things didn't improve from there. A major hurdle between the passionate couple was that while Owen wanted children, Cristina was firm that she did not; when she exercises her bodily autonomy and terminates a pregnancy during Season 8, it becomes a huge sticking point for Owen, who clearly harbors resentment against her.
The two break up and get back together over and over again — even when they're legally divorced, they're still drawn to each other — but to say they're a toxic couple is putting it lightly. Though some "Grey's Anatomy" fans have tried to stick up for Owen throughout the show's tenure, he's still a seriously divisive character for many reasons, and the way he often treats Cristina can be difficult to watch.
Whether or not Oh ever shows up on "Grey's Anatomy" again remains to be seen, but for now, fans can find McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt on the show every Thursday at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.