Followers of “Gray’s Anatomy” have been shocked when, partway via 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 aspect. First launched as a one night time stand who seems to be Meredith’s boss within the present’s inaugural season (all the best way again in 2005 when the collection premiered as a humble mid-season alternative), Derek seems to be some of the essential characters on the collection 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 honest, 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 seem like an actual smacked ass.)
All through the collection, Meredith and Derek battle ups and downs and date different folks and argue about their future till, lastly, they get married (on a Publish-It), undertake a toddler and have two extra, turning into a cheerful household. So, what might go improper? In Shondaland, one thing can all the time go improper. 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.)
By which episode of Gray’s Anatomy does Derek Shepherd die?
Within the twenty first episode of season 11, “Gray’s Anatomy” killed off one in all its unique characters in a very brutal method — so here is the way it all goes down. Within the aptly-named installment “Easy methods to Save a Life” (a reference to a music by The Fray that soundtracked a serious episode in season 2), Derek is heading to the airport when he sees spots a rushing automotive and, shortly thereafter, a two-car accident on the aspect 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 inside their SUV, and after liberating them, he checks the rushing automotive 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 automotive 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 automotive. All is properly, and he is set to fly to Washington D.C. to surrender a job doing medical analysis on the request of the President of america (who isn’t 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’ll be able to type of observe Patrick Dempsey’s real-life obsession with skilled automotive racing via 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 type of pointed that Shonda Rhimes, the aforementioned vengeful god of “Gray’s Anatomy,” returned to put in writing her first episode since season 8 simply to kill Derek in a freaking automotive accident. As he leaves the scene of the completely unrelated automotive accident, Derek will get hit by a semi-truck on the motive force’s aspect of his automotive and finally ends up transported to a small, under-equipped instructing hospital in rural Washington State.
From the second the truck hits his automotive, Derek by no means says one other phrase out loud on display screen once more; in voice-over, Dempsey narrates Derek’s inside monologue as he begs his workers of (largely) inept medical doctors to offer 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 accomplished the pinnacle CT, and agrees to have Derek taken off of life help. (Dr. Blake reappears later within the collection, 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 she or he’ll be alright.
What Patrick Dempsey mentioned about leaving Gray’s Anatomy
“Easy methods to Save a Life” aired in 2015, and a 12 months later, Patrick Dempsey spoke to Individuals 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 price.”
“I believe after a sure time period, regardless of how a lot cash you make, you need management out of your individual schedule,” Dempsey mentioned, which is sensible; because of the time commitments required to play Derek Shepherd, the actor not often 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 in all probability ought to have moved on a few years earlier. I stayed a bit longer than I ought to have.”
Dempsey additionally mentioned one thing fascinating, which is that he and Shonda Rhimes made the choice to kill Derek collectively and stored it a secret from the remainder of the solid and crew, to the purpose the place they did not even maintain a desk learn for Derek’s ultimate 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’ll do it in a very great way’ and she or he did her factor. I assumed it was actually fascinating. It undoubtedly woke folks up. And it was fantastically symbolic in some ways.”
Was Patrick Dempsey’s on-set habits the actual purpose behind his Gray’s Anatomy exit?
Regardless of Patrick Dempsey’s feedback concerning the “fantastically symbolic” ending that Shonda Rhimes wrote for Derek Shepherd on “Gray’s Anatomy,” rumors have swirled for years that Dempsey’s on-set habits might have had one thing to do with it. In an excerpt from Lynette Rice’s oral historical past of the present — “Easy methods 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 method. He type of was terrorizing the set. Some solid 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 type 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 method.
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 habits wasn’t the best, however he had nowhere to go. He was so depressing. He had nobody to speak to.” Ultimately, 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 protected to say it was a very bizarre time for each the present’s narrative and the viewers at dwelling because of the continued lockdowns and the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Frankly, the collection dealt with it in addition to it might; 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 purpose, 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 actually have a actual “marriage 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 optimistic method) to reunite with Ellen Pompeo, and that he liked the best way the then-showrunner Krista Vernoff discovered a option to deliver him again on board. “”I assumed it was a good looking option to shut it,” Dempsey instructed Marc Malkin. “The intention was to essentially give folks 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 would have angels hovering round us caring for us is an effective message to ship out in such a bleak world that we’re dwelling in. So for all of us, it was a good looking ending to this story. I am so grateful that I did it and comfortable that the followers actually liked it.”
“Gray’s Anatomy” is obtainable to stream on each Hulu and Netflix.