passage: Izzie Stevens -- Heigl garnered critical acclaim for her performance as Izzie and received numerous awards and nominations for her role, winning the ``Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series'' at the 2007 Emmy Awards. She was critical of the character's development during the show's fourth season, particularly her romance with George. She declined to put herself forward for the 2008 Emmy Awards, citing insufficient material in the role. After speculation that Izzie would be killed off in the fifth season, the character was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma. She married Alex in the series' one-hundredth episode, and afterwards, her tumor was successfully removed. Izzie made her final appearance in the sixth season, leaving Seattle after Alex refused to resume their marriage. Heigl requested to be released from her contract 18 months early, in order to spend more time with her family. In January 2012, Heigl reported that she would like to return to Grey's Anatomy to give closure to her character, however, Rhimes confirmed that there were no plans to have the character return at that time and has since stated that she has no plans to ever re-approach Izzie's storyline again.