Followers of “Gray’s Anatomy” have been shocked when, partway by way of season 11 of Shonda Rhimes’ long-running medical drama, Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd — performed by Patrick Dempsey — died on-screen, along with his secret girlfriend-turned-wife Meredith Gray (Ellen Pompeo) by his facet. First launched as a one night time stand who seems to be Meredith’s boss within the present’s inaugural season (all the way in which again in 2005 when the sequence premiered as a humble mid-season alternative), Derek seems to be probably the most necessary characters on the sequence as an excellent, world-class neurosurgeon who woos his first-year intern (Meredith), just for the present to disclose that he had an estranged spouse all alongside. (To be truthful, Kate Walsh’s entrance as Addison Shepherd, clad in a large fur coat as she says Meredith have to be the “lady sleeping with [her] husband,” is superior, even when it makes Derek appear to be an actual smacked ass.)
All through the sequence, Meredith and Derek battle ups and downs and date different individuals and argue about their future till, lastly, they get married (on a Publish-It), undertake a baby and have two extra, turning into a contented household. So, what may go fallacious? In Shondaland, one thing can at all times go fallacious. However why precisely did Dempsey go away the present, and why did Rhimes select to kill Derek as a substitute of merely writing him off? (The quick reply is that Shonda Rhimes is a vengeful god — however we’ll circle again to that.)
Wherein episode of Gray’s Anatomy does Derek Shepherd die?
Within the twenty first episode of season 11, “Gray’s Anatomy” killed off considered one of its authentic characters in a very brutal means — so here is the way it all goes down. Within the aptly-named installment “The way to Save a Life” (a reference to a track by The Fray that soundtracked a significant episode in season 2), Derek is heading to the airport when he sees spots a dashing automobile and, shortly thereafter, a two-car accident on the facet of the highway; as a doctor, he naturally stops to assist. Within the wreckage, he finds mom and daughter Sarah (Che Landon) and Winnie (Savannah Paige Rae) trapped within their SUV, and after liberating them, he checks the dashing automobile and discovers a teenage couple. The lady, Alana (Allie Grant), is shaken however seemingly unhurt, however her boyfriend Charlie (Robby Rasmussen), who was driving, is not as fortunate. (Additionally, their automobile explodes, as a result of Shonda Rhimes loves drama.)
Like the nice physician he’s, Derek helps everybody to security and helps them into an ambulance as soon as it arrives, hopping again into his personal automobile. All is effectively, and he is set to fly to Washington D.C. to surrender a job doing medical analysis on the request of the President of the USA (who is rarely named, however hopefully, it is Tony Goldwyn’s President Fitzgerald Grant from Rhimes’ different present “Scandal”). That is when catastrophe strikes … but once more.
How does Derek Shepherd die on Gray’s Anatomy?
You possibly can form of observe Patrick Dempsey’s real-life obsession with skilled automobile racing by way of his character’s arc on “Gray’s Anatomy” — there’s an entire subplot at first of season 7 the place Derek Shepherd retains getting arrested for reckless driving — and it does really feel form of pointed that Shonda Rhimes, the aforementioned vengeful god of “Gray’s Anatomy,” returned to write down her first episode since season 8 simply to kill Derek in a freaking automobile accident. As he leaves the scene of the completely unrelated automobile accident, Derek will get hit by a semi-truck on the driving force’s facet of his automobile and finally ends up transported to a small, under-equipped instructing hospital in rural Washington State.
From the second the truck hits his automobile, Derek by no means says one other phrase out loud on display screen once more; in voice-over, Dempsey narrates Derek’s interior monologue as he begs his workers of (largely) inept docs to provide him a head CT as quickly as potential. They do not, regardless of the objections of surgical resident Dr. Penelope Blake (Rhimes common Samantha Sloyan), deciding as a substitute to concentrate to exterior accidents, and by the point the neurosurgeon arrives, Derek has blown a pupil and is pronounced mind useless. Alongside together with her two youngsters, Meredith arrives on the hospital, tells the workers they need to have achieved the pinnacle CT, and agrees to have Derek taken off of life assist. (Dr. Blake reappears later within the sequence, a lot to Meredith’s chagrin.) It is a actually gut-wrenching sequence of occasions, although the saddest second is, undeniably, when Meredith tells Derek that it is okay; he can go, and he or she’ll be alright.
What Patrick Dempsey mentioned about leaving Gray’s Anatomy
“The way to Save a Life” aired in 2015, and a 12 months later, Patrick Dempsey spoke to Folks Journal to advertise his movie “Bridget Jones’ Child” –- telling the outlet extra about his exit within the course of. “I am very grateful for ‘Gray’s Anatomy,'” Dempsey mentioned on the time. “It is given me the chance to do all the pieces. However on the similar time, there was a value.”
“I believe after a sure time frame, irrespective of how a lot cash you make, you need management out of your personal schedule,” Dempsey mentioned, which is sensible; as a result of time commitments required to play Derek Shepherd, the actor hardly ever bought to see his spouse and youngsters. “It had been lengthy sufficient. It was time for me to maneuver on with different issues and different pursuits. I most likely ought to have moved on a few years earlier. I stayed a bit longer than I ought to have.”
Dempsey additionally mentioned one thing attention-grabbing, which is that he and Shonda Rhimes made the choice to kill Derek collectively and stored it a secret from the remainder of the forged and crew, to the purpose the place they did not even maintain a desk learn for Derek’s remaining episode. “It was clear we have been each prepared. However we stored it very quiet,” Dempsey revealed. “I knew he was going to be gone, however I did not know the way she was going to deal with it. Shonda simply mentioned, ‘I will do it in a very great way’ and he or she did her factor. I assumed it was actually attention-grabbing. It positively woke individuals up. And it was superbly symbolic in some ways.”
Was Patrick Dempsey’s on-set conduct the true cause behind his Gray’s Anatomy exit?
Regardless of Patrick Dempsey’s feedback in regards to the “superbly symbolic” ending that Shonda Rhimes wrote for Derek Shepherd on “Gray’s Anatomy,” rumors have swirled for years that Dempsey’s on-set conduct might have had one thing to do with it. In an excerpt from Lynette Rice’s oral historical past of the present — “The way to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Gray’s Anatomy” — obtained by The Hollywood Reporter when the e book launched in 2021, Dempsey was an absolute terror behind the scenes.
“There have been HR points. It wasn’t sexual in any means. He form of was terrorizing the set. Some forged members had all kinds of PTSD with him,” govt producer James D. Parriott mentioned within the e book. Interviews with writers, Rhimes, and Dempsey himself clarify that because of Dempsey’s star energy and the truth that Rhimes wrote Derek as an idealized man, he was form of an intimidating presence, however sadly, that does not seem like the top of the story. Whereas co-stars like Tina Majorino and Brooke Smith praised him and mentioned he was a tremendous colleague, others did not really feel the identical means.
Apparently, Dempsey began complaining that he needed to keep late on set, which made the opposite actors irritated, particularly star Ellen Pompeo … and govt producer Jeannine Renshaw mentioned that it was actually apparent that Dempsey wished to be out driving or spending time along with his household. Different actors on the present would then complain about Dempsey, and an nameless “longtime crew member” mentioned it clearly bought to him. “He was simply shut out within the chilly. His conduct wasn’t the best, however he had nowhere to go. He was so depressing. He had nobody to speak to.” In the long run, Dempsey realized he’d stayed partly for the beneficiant paycheck supplied by ABC, and it was time to maneuver on — however he did reappear on the present years after his departure.
Does Patrick Dempsey return to Gray’s Anatomy after season 11?
Season 17 of “Gray’s Anatomy” aired within the fall of 2020, so it is secure to say it was a very bizarre time for each the present’s narrative and the viewers at house because of the continued lockdowns and the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Frankly, the sequence dealt with it in addition to it may; dressing the characters in full protecting medical gear made sense for the story, and a medical drama was, in some ways, obligated to handle the real-life pandemic. The present did not have to place Meredith Gray right into a COVID-related coma and create a dream seaside in Meredith’s thoughts the place deceased characters return to the fray … however for no matter cause, it did.
That is how Patrick Dempsey returns to “Gray’s Anatomy” — in a dream sequence the place he seems on a seaside and reunites with Meredith (the 2 also have a actual “wedding ceremony,” one thing that by no means ended up taking place in actual life). In an interview with Selection, Dempsey mentioned that it was extraordinarily emotional (in a constructive means) to reunite with Ellen Pompeo, and that he beloved the way in which the then-showrunner Krista Vernoff discovered a approach to deliver him again on board. “”I assumed it was an exquisite approach to shut it,” Dempsey instructed Marc Malkin. “The intention was to essentially give individuals some hope as a result of they’re such an iconic couple. We have misplaced so many individuals this 12 months, the thought that we might have angels hovering round us caring for us is an efficient message to ship out in such a bleak world that we’re residing in. So for all of us, it was an exquisite ending to this story. I am so grateful that I did it and comfortable that the followers actually beloved it.”
“Gray’s Anatomy” is accessible to stream on each Hulu and Netflix.
