Grey’s Anatomy fans will see the return of several big characters this spring.
One of the people returning to the Grey’s Anatomy cast is the actress who played Arizona. But we aren’t going to see Callie, it seems.
In the run-up to the new season of Grey’s Anatomy, it was revealed that Jessica Capshaw is returning to play Dr. Arizona Robbins again.
Arizona was a fan-favorite character, but she left Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in Season 14 to move to New York.
The move was so her daughter Sophia could be closer to her other mom – Dr. Callie Torres.
Actress Sara Ramirez played Callie for years. She left the show at the end of Grey’s Anatomy Season 12 when Callie developed a relationship with Penny Blake (played by Samantha Sloyan) and moved to New York.
Why is Callie not returning to Grey’s Anatomy with Arizona?
Grey’s Anatomy has a new showrunner and she recently spoke about why we won’t see Arizona and Callie share screen time this season.
“We have an open-door policy here. We always want to see old characters come back and interact with the new characters,” Meg Marinis told TVLine.
“But there are so many [alumni], and everyone has busy careers and schedules,” Meg added.
“This particular story really connected to Arizona and her specialty, so it made sense,” she elaborated.
So Arizona returns to Seattle, as heavily advertised in the Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 trailers, but she won’t have Callie in tow. Maybe Season 21 could see the return of Arizona’s former wife.
The good news is that Grey’s Anatomy fans should get an update from Arizona about how her life is going in New York and if she is close with Callie again. Maybe that will leave some Easter eggs for fans to mull over until a later date.
Below is the full trailer for the new season of Grey’s Anatomy, and Arizona makes her exciting return.
Grey’s Anatomy finally returns with new episodes
It has been a long wait for Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 to arrive. Fans have wanted new episodes for a long time, but two Hollywood strikes delayed production for many months. The result is a shortened season, which means the Grey’s Anatomy season finale will sneak up on everyone.
As a reminder, the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy is Thursday, March 14. There are only 10 episodes within the new season, but past content is readily available for streaming on Hulu.
Elsewhere, the final Station 19 episodes will air this spring. ABC decided to cancel the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off after seven seasons.
A campaign to save Station 19 has been active, with dedicated fans even creating a hashtag that has often been trending on social media.
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursday at 9/8c on ABC.