Dear Grey's Anatomy, Please Don't Kill Alex Karev

Unless Grey's replaces Alex with a new actor (really, it'd be confusing 16 seasons in), they'll have to deal with Chambers's exit. Perhaps Grey's will close its Pac-North plot, returning Richard and Owen to Grey Sloan while Alex stays on board at the scrappy hospital. Alex could get mentions from Jo and Meredith if he remains at Pac-North. It'd be glaringly obvious that he didn't get a farewell, but this would be the least devastating way for him to go. We occasionally get references to Cristina, after all.

Alex could return if Chambers and the showrunners are up for it. Grey's has brought back past characters directly as well. We've seen Addison Montgomery return for guest-star episodes and Ben Warren dip in and out of the hospital as a firefighter. But it should be noted that these characters came straight back from Grey's spinoffs.

We don't even want to touch this dreadful thought with a six-foot pole. Haven't we seen enough death with George, Lexie, Mark, and Derek? But if Camilla Luddington stays as Jo, it'd be really weird if Jo just casually mentions her husband. Their relationship has been a crucial part of her growth, after all. Death, even a random one, would feel more on brand with the show's notoriety for emotional drama instead of a slow fade. Just as the series has repeated the tumor plotline, it could revive the lethal accident trope (think of Grey's many plane, bus, and car crashes).

There's also the dark possibility that Alex could kill himself. It's happened before on House, when the show wrote off Kal Penn's Dr. Kutner by having the physician end his life out of the blue. While Alex has dealt with hard situations before, we sincerely hope the writers don't go down this route.

This could make sense, given that the last time Alex was mentioned in the midseason finale, he had been home to care for his mother. Alex could leave Seattle permanently to help his mother, who lives with schizophrenia. Still, we last saw her in a good place in her life, and his unexpected move would leave Jo grappling with the aftershock of his absence. Seriously, how could Alex leave permanently without a final moment with Jo?

Alex could also ditch Grey's Izzie Stevens style, ghosting the hospital forever. He's seen a lot of people move on from him in his life — think Izzie, Lucy, and his father. Still, given his fierce loyalty to his friends, this is a hard pill to swallow.