Sandra Oh on leaving 'Grey's Anatomy': I hope they don't kill off my character

(UPI) -- "Grey's Anatomy" star Sandra Oh opened up about the end of her role as Dr. Christina Yang on the show in an interview Tuesday morning.

Oh announced in August that she would leave at the end of the tenth season, but had not given much of an explanation until now.

“I felt like all the avenues that a character that could possibly be explored,” she said, “I feel like we have done that.”

When T.R. Knight left the show, his character, George O'Malley, was hit by a bus and killed. Oh said she hopes her character does not have the same fate.

“Of course. I would very much like her to live,” she said. “You know, the show’s going to continue and go on and have its own life, and eventually it will have to come to a close. I’d love to come back!”

Oh said she started thinking about leaving the show two years ago, when the show started renegotiating contracts.

"[I thought] If the show is going to come to an end, I need to start thinking about letting it go,” Oh said. The departure from the show is bittersweet, though.

“It makes my heart full and heavy at the same time," Oh said. "[There are] so many long-term relationships that I have there. I will be really, really sad.”

There are 24 episodes of the show left, and Oh said she is looking forward to expanding her acting experience, potentially working in film and theater in the future.