Chyler Leigh on giving Lexie closure in surprise 'Grey's Anatomy' cameo
Chyler Leigh surprised fans when she reprised her role as Lexie Grey on "Grey's Anatomy" this season, and now the actress is opening up about the experience.
Lexie was tragically killed off in a plane crash during the final episode of season 8.
The character was brought back for season 17 to confront her half-sister, protagonist Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who was hallucinating that she was on a picturesque beach while in reality she was fighting for her life against COVID-19.
In an interview with "Entertainment Tonight," Leigh called her return "a really interesting experience" because she couldn't physically film the episode alongside her co-stars due to COVID-19 restrictions. Plus, she was in Canada at the time.
"So all of my stuff was done on basically green screen. And we're not sitting on the rocks. I was sitting on an apple box and I was talking to tennis balls," she said with a laugh, noting that she is pleased overall with how it turned out.
"To be able to close the chapter for Lexie, and to appear in a way where she's not eaten by wolves, kind of bring a little life back to it," she reflected. "It was a special experience to be able to be part of that."
Leigh, who plays Alex Danvers in the CW superhero series "Supergirl," also said she has mixed feelings about saying goodbye to the show. It is currently airing its sixth and final season.
The 39-year-old actress confessed, "It's bittersweet. There's obvious reasons for the show to be the final season ... but I think that by the end of it, it'll be a pretty good wrap-up."
"The story that we're telling is that you don't have to be a superhero to be super powerful," she went on. "It's basically giving the people in National City or the people in the world encouragement that they can also be their own heroes."
