Even Grey’s Anatomy stars Katherine Heigl and Jeffrey Dean Morgan admit the whole “Ghost Denny” storyline was a bit of a mess.
In a joint interview with Entertainment Weekly on March 28, Morgan recalled how the season five plot — where Heigl’s character, Izzie, hallucinated her dead fiancé, Denny — was baffling from the start.
“I don’t know that anybody thought that was working when we were doing it,” he admitted.
Heigl agreed, saying it likely gave some fans “wish fulfillment” but was ultimately “awkward.” She added, “Not the scenes, but the concept.”
One moment, in particular, still makes her cringe.
“There’s one scene I will never watch with my kids. I don’t care if they’re 60,” she said.
The scene in question was when Izzie, refusing to acknowledge Denny’s presence, gets intimate with Alex (Justin Chambers) while Morgan’s ghostly character just… stands there.
“At the time, I was like, ‘This is what the money’s for, right?’” she joked.
Though the storyline wasn’t well-received, Morgan was grateful for the chance to return. “The work is always great,” he said, but admitted the supernatural twist felt out of place.
Heigl echoed that sentiment. “I loved Izzie and wanted her to have that with Denny, even if it was just a fantasy,” she said. “But yeah… it wasn’t necessarily in the realm of Grey’s Anatomy.”
