Midori Francis breaks silence on Grey’s Anatomy exit (and hints Yasuda won’t return anytime soon)

The Grey’s Anatomy fall finale brought about the end of one intern’s journey on the show as Dr. Mika Yasuda walked away from her job at Grey Sloan Memorial after losing her sister. 

Following her sister’s tragic death as a result of the car accident caused by Yasuda drifting to sleep at the wheel of her car, Yasuda attempted to return to work and push through things. However, as she returned to Grey Sloan it quickly became clear to her that she needed a change of scenery as this was no longer just her place of work now, it was the place her sister lost her life. 

The sudden exit of Yasuda came as a result of actress Midori Francis’ decision to exit the show just a few short years after joining the cast in season 19 as part of the new group of interns brought to Grey Sloan. 

When word of Francis’ exit first broke, little information was provided regarding the circumstances of her departure but it was hinted that Francis chose to step away from the show to pursue other career opportunities. Interestingly, in breaking her silence about leaving Grey’s Anatomy after three seasons on the show, Francis seemed to skirt questions about the decision to leave the show. 

Speaking with Deadline, Francis was directly asked what made her decide to walk away from Grey’s Anatomy, but rather than giving an upfront answer, she instead danced around the question talking more about her love for the show and the desire to give Yasuda a proper sendoff than the reason she chose to walk away from the show. 

“First of all, not only did I love the show, I watched the show when I was in middle school. I can still remember watching it with my friends and my mom and just being like, Oh my God, this is TV. Obviously they were older than me, and I just thought that the characters were so cool and interesting,” Francis responded. 

“So when I joined this new group of interns, it was so surreal and awesome to be a part of that. I had a full-hearted, full-throated, wild, beautiful ride that I am so grateful for. Creatively, it’s about coming together to find the right story, the right moment for Mika’s exit that could fit into the larger season and arc, and I think that the writers did such a good job. Because when I think about Mika, she’s so ambitious and she’s so competitive, so what would cause her to leave Grey Sloan? And boy, did they set that up well,” she added before discussing sitting down with the show’s current showrunner Meg Marinis to collaborate on Yasuda’s exit storyline. 

Yasuda probably won’t be coming back to Grey’s Anatomy

While there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood between Midori Francis and the creative team behind the show, we get a sense that we won’t be seeing Yasuda back in the halls of Grey Sloan anytime soon. 

Following her exit, Francis told Deadline show would be delighted to return to Grey’s Anatomy; however, she seemed to suggest it won’t be in the cards as she can’t see a world in which Yasuda would want to return to the hospital. 

“As far as returning to Grey’s, I would be so delighted. These people and this world has become part of my trajectory of acting families, and I would be absolutely delighted to return. I don’t know if Mika would, I think for Mika it would be triggering,” Francis revealed. 

The comment, innocent as it might be, reads a bit ambiguous. It’s almost as if she didn’t want to fully close the door directly and used her character’s exit storyline to do the heavy lifting in hinting that it’s unlikely we’ll see Yasuda again. 

That doesn’t mean we won’t as Grey’s Anatomy has done an amazing job of bringing past characters into the fold from time to time after an actor’s initial exit, but we’ve also seen many actors leave and never return. I guess only time will tell which category Francis will fall into. 

Grey’s Anatomy returns March 6, 2025.