Hot Take: Grey's Anatomy Izzie's Departure Was The Best Thing That Happened To MAGIC

Throughout the years of filming Grey's Anatomy, there have been several departures that have absolutely broken the hearts of the audience. While some of these were motivated by the showrunners themselves finding no place for these characters in the universe, others were initiated by the actors themselves.

After all, working on a show for so many years without a break takes a lot of dedication, and many people prefer to leave the show at its peak to pursue other opportunities that an acting career may offer.

The departure of Izzie Stevens in the middle of the 6th season of the show was the first one that deeply shocked the public. However, this shock wasn't because viewers weren't ready to let go of the character, but rather because of the drama that came with it.

As actress Katherine Heigl revealed at the time, conditions on the set of Grey's Anatomy were far from ideal.

As heartbreaking as the news was at the time, the reality was that Izzie's character was destined to be written off sooner rather than later. Whether it had something to do with the problems Heigl experienced on set or was just an unfortunate case of lazy writing, Izzie ended up being the character that ruined all the relationships around her.

Not only was she a doctor with very questionable ethics, as revealed in the entire Denny Duquette romance storyline, but she's also a not-so-nice friend.

And while she is considered one of the most iconic of the original intern characters who formed the group known to the fandom as MAGIC (Meredith, Alex, George, Izzie, Cristina), in reality MAGC had a much better dynamic without her. Izzie may have started out as a nice person to be around, but the lack of positive growth made her stagnate.

From constantly bashing her own friends, to bashing a marriage she broke, to finding every reason to be outraged with every single one of her friends and partners but ignoring her own flaws, Izzie wasn't fun or quirky enough to watch. Getting rid of her character allowed the friend group to evolve and the other characters to continue to grow.

If you want to judge Izzie Stevens for yourself, you can re-watch Grey's Anatomy by streaming it on Hulu, Netflix or Disney Plus. The show is set to return for its 20th anniversary season, but the details of the season's release have yet to be announced.