Will Grey’s Anatomy address, you know, Izzie’s whereabouts at all?

Or are they just going to pretend the character portrayed by Katherine Heigl never existed now that the actress simply isn't returning from maternity leave?

They’re definitely not going to pretend she never existed, according to Entertainment Weekly. In fact, the Izzie issue will be addressed during May sweeps.

For her part, Heigl actually thinks her January 21 farewell - while not originally intended to be her last episode - oddly works as a bookend to Izzie’s story.

“Even though there’s a part of me that would like to go back and do the quick Izzie farewell,” she says, “I also think that my last scene, where Meredith says to Izzie, ‘Don’t go, we’re your family,’ and Izzie’s response was, ‘No you’re not, you’re just a bunch of people I worked with, and I can find that anywhere,’ was kind of tragic and appropriate all at the same time."

"When I was playing the scene I was really trying to convey that, for Izzie, that was a lie that she had to tell herself to have the courage to move on.”

What do you think of Katherine's departure?

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.