No word on how her absence — which starts this month and will kick in on screen around November — will be explained but it’ll likely overlap with co-star Ellen Pompeo’s maternity leave. Girls’ only road trip perhaps?
Also noteworthy? Grey’s recently announced it was adding Nota Zehetner, Robert Baker and Jesse Williams to the cast as recurring residents/medical professionals.
UPDATE: Now we know why Katherine’s character will be temporarily leaving the show. Spoiler alert ahead.
Per E!:
Dr. Izzie Stevens is getting fired. Yes, fired, as in dismissed or downsized. Izzie gets laid off in the big merger [between Seattle Grace and crosstown rival Mercy West] and vanishes for a handful of episodes while Heigl shoots her next movie, Life as We Know It.
The shake-up also provides cover for Ellen Pompeo’s maternity leave. She’ll fade into the background while new doctors, administrators and nurses (played by the likes of Robert Baker, Jesse Williams and Nora Zehetner) fill in the gaps our MIA faves leave behind.
Producers are, however, working to keep Meredith Grey in as many eps as possible. This week Pompeo is banking footage for her maternity leave by shooting scenes for two episodes at once.
