It’s been over 17 years since Denny Duquette’s heart beat for the last time, nearly two decades since Izzie Stevens had to be carried away from the man she thought she was going to marry. Somehow, as Grey’s Anatomy approaches its 20th season, that performance by Katherine Heigl alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan — two actors who have long since moved on from the ABC medical drama — remains one of the most affecting of the series. There’s a reason for that, as Heigl recalled tapping into a painful place for that performance, and she admitted what she wishes she’d done differently.
In the Season 2 finale “Losing My Religion,” Denny Duquette received a heart transplant (thanks to Izzie illegally cutting his LVAD wire) but died hours later, when a blood clot caused him to have a stroke. Meredith, Cristina, Alex and George found Izzie afterward, lying next to Denny’s body, refusing to move until Alex insisted that wasn’t Denny anymore and carried her away sobbing. Katherine Heigl recalled the scene for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, telling Ellen Pompeo:
