Izzie Stevens got cancer, married Alex, survived the cancer, and then just disappeared for season six. She eventually returned for a second, admitting that she no longer felt like Seattle was her home. Alex was later sent divorce papers, and now we know that Izzie secretly had Alex’s twins, lives on a Kansas ranch, and became a surgical oncologist.
Katherine Heigl ‘Her exit essentially began in 2008 when she withdrew her name from Emmy because she felt the material didn’t deserve it. In 2010, the character completely disappeared. In the years that followed, she said she would love to return to the character, but Shonda Rhimes didn’t. “I’m done with this story,” she told TVLine in 2015.
A rising romcom star at the time, Heigl starred in a few more romcoms before returning to television with State of Affairs, then Doubt, and recently switching to Suits and the 2020 series Firefly Lane.