Grey's Anatomy boss shares regret over major character exit

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This character's fate could have been very different...

    Grey's Anatomy has been on screens for 18 years and counting and, as any fan of the medical drama will tell you, the show has been responsible for some of the most heartbreaking character deaths on screens in recent years.

    MORE: Grey's Anatomy boss opens up about how she plans to end show

    But now, in a new book, a former writer on the ABC show has revealed that he has regrets over how Katherine Heigl's character Izzie exited the show. Namely, that he now wishes that they had killed her off.

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    In , Mark Wilding, who has also served as an executive producer on Scandal and Good Girls, has been quoted as saying: "I don't know why we didn't kill Izzie, I really don't."

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    He speculated that the decision not to kill the character off was made because the other writers had "hope" that she would one day reprise her role - something that the actress herself had also suggested. "[She] subsequently talked about wanting to maybe come back to the show to wrap things up a couple years later, but that never happened," he explained.

    Katherine starred as Dr Izzie Stevens for six seasons

    Katherine exited the show in 2010 after playing Dr Izzie Stevens for six seasons. Long-time fans will remember that while Izzie was diagnosed with cancer, she hung up her scrubs after she was fired for a mistake she believes her husband Alex Karev, played by Justin Chambers, was responsible for. She even won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2007.

    Elsewhere in the book, another former writer, Jenna Bans, said that the decision not to kill Izzie was actually made by creator Shonda Rhimes, who "felt like that was more of an unexpected way to go."

    The actress even won an Emmy for her performance on the show

    The unauthorized oral history of the veteran medical drama has been compiled by Lynette Rice, editor at large and was published last month.

    MORE: Ellen Pompeo makes candid confession about future on Grey's Anatomy

    Meanwhile, the actress recently admitted she could have handled her exit with "more grace". She told earlier this year: "I know there's a better way to deal with those things than I did, I could have handled it with more grace.

    "I don't actually regret leaving — I did the right thing for me and for my family — but I do regret the heightened drama I was feeling at that time."

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