It’s been three years since Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) left Grey’s Anatomy in the middle of season 16, and while Grey’s Anatomy season 20 could provide the opportunity for his character to return, it would be a bad decision. As one of the original five Grey’s Anatomy interns from season 1, Alex was an integral part of the series from his introduction through his exit when he and Meredith were the only two still left standing. Through his character growth and development from the cocky, misogynistic intern to the caring, kind, protective pediatric surgeon, Alex became a Grey’s Anatomy fan favorite, but his character is better left in the past.
Grey’s Anatomy season 19 was a season of endings and new beginnings, with Meredith and Maggie both leaving the series as main characters and Addison and Jackson making important returns. This leaves the door open for Grey’s Anatomy season 20 to follow suit by bringing back characters who had open-door exits, like Alex Karev. However, unlike Addison, who received her own spinoff show, and Jackson, who got his long-awaited happy ending with April, Alex’s exit was controversial and poorly received. In Grey’s Anatomy season 16, Alex left Seattle and his wife Jo to be with Izzie and the twins she’d had through frozen embryos.
Alex’s Bad Grey’s Anatomy Exit Would Complicate His Return
For Grey’s Anatomy viewers, Alex’s exit is widely considered one of the worst of many in the show’s history. His sendoff was seen as so out of character and badly done that viewers even took the stance that they’d rather his character have been killed off. In an interesting decision, Alex departed Grey’s Anatomy season 16 just before the mid-season finale under the presumption that he was on a trip to visit his mother. Months later, it was announced that Chambers was exiting the show and, to add insult to injury, his final appearance took place solely through voiceover eight episodes after he’d last been seen.
Alex’s Grey’s Anatomy exit almost made him seem like an entirely different character, as he lied to his wife, ignored her calls, and didn’t even have the decency to inform her directly that he had left permanently and why. Instead, he left that job to Meredith. This was an especially confusing decision when considering how Izzie had done something similar to him when she suddenly left in Grey’s Anatomy season 6 without a word to her husband. Both Izzie and Alex’s character exits practically ruined their characters, making it hard to justify their returns both for viewers and in the show’s story.
Alex Returning Would Be Unfair To Jo In Grey’s Anatomy Season 20
As awful as Alex’s exit was for his character, Alex’s decision was also a betrayal to Jo in Grey’s Anatomy. By the time Alex exited in mid-season 16, the couple had been on and off for six seasons before finally marrying in the season 14 finale. Both characters had traumatic backstories and had suffered great pain and heartbreak in previous relationships before finding each other for what seemed to be their happy endings. In leaving Grey’s Anatomy, Alex left many important relationships behind, but his exit undoubtedly had the most negative impact on Jo and his return would be unfair to her.
In Grey’s Anatomy, Jo is just now truly moving on and finding happiness romantically with Link. Jo’s troubled mental health history also means that Alex returning could potentially undo the growth and healing she’s done since he left. In order to prove that Alex’s decision to leave was worth the pain it caused, he’d have to return with Izzie, which could also come across as cruel to Jo. Though it would be nice for viewers to see Chambers’s Alex on Grey’s Anatomy again, the way his character was sent off shows that it wouldn’t be the same Alex viewers fell in love with.