Jeffrey Dean Morgan will return to ABC show

For a guy who's been dead for a couple years, Denny Duquette sure is persistent.

Denny -- and consequently the actor who plays him, Jeffrey Dean Morgan -- will make a return appearance on "Grey's Anatomy" this season. The network confirmed Morgan's guest appearance to The Hollywood Reporter, but the circumstances of his return are being kept under wraps.

We do know, however, that Denny was most connected to Izzie (Katherine Heigl), who fell in love with him while he was a patient at Seattle Grace and committed some major misconduct in an effort to save him. We also know, per ABC chief Stephen McPherson's comments this week at the TCA press tour, that "Grey's" creator Shonda Rhimes is planning an "unbelievable storyline" for Izzie in the coming season.

Just how, or whether, the two things are related remains to be seen.

Morgan has appeared on about a dozen episodes of the show, the last two of which occurred after Denny's death as he appeared to a not-quite-dead Meredith (Ellen Pompeo). He stars in the highly anticipated "Watchmen" movie that's due out next year and will next be seen in "The Accidental Husband," which hits theaters in September.