Creator Shonda Rhimes issues statement on shocking twist

Apr 24, 2015 07:07 GMT  ·  By
“Grey’s Anatomy” has killed off TV's most popular doctor, Dr. Derek Shepherd
   “Grey’s Anatomy” has killed off TV's most popular doctor, Dr. Derek Shepherd

Last night’s episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC’s still very popular medical drama, brought a shocking turn of events, a plot twist that fans are yet to process and come to terms with. A major character on the show and one of the most famous fictional TV doctors ever, has been killed off.

Before proceeding any further, please be advised that *this article contains spoilers. If you’re not caught up with the latest developments yet, it might be a better idea if you stopped reading right now.*

“Grey’s Anatomy” and a very shocking plot twist

Last night, Dr. Derek Shepherd, lovingly dubbed by fans Dr. McDreamy, died from injuries sustained in a car accident, after doctors failed to accurately estimate the severity of his injuries. Dr. Shepherd is survived on the show by his wife and their 2 children, his mother and 4 sisters.

Dr. Shepherd has been on the show since day one, being introduced to the public in 2005, with the debut of the medical drama series. In recent episodes, he had somewhat taken a step back, but there were no indications he would come to such an abrupt and violent exit.

That is, if you choose to ignore rumors from earlier this week about how Patrick Dempsey, who played Dr. McDreamy, was acting like a diva on set to the point where he had infuriated series creator Shonda Rhimes so badly that she was literally thinking of writing him out.

Patrick Dempsey says it happened “very quickly”

Entertainment Weekly reached out to Dempsey for comment on his character’s exit, and it turns out, he was almost as surprised as the fans. He admits that “there wasn’t a lot of discussion” about McDreamy’s death, because it happened “very quickly.”

It was the right thing to do though. “It was just a natural progression,” he explains. “And the way everything was unfolding in a very organic way, it was like, okay! This was obviously the right time. And then it was a question of… That’s a question for Shonda.”

Shona, however, doesn’t want to talk about this right now. Even though she’s usually very talkative on big developments on her successful shows, this time she’ll settle for just a statement. You can find it below in full: it’s impersonal and straight to the point, expressing regret at having to say goodbye to such a wonderful character.

Not an amicable departure, perhaps

Shonda’s statement is probably the only proof we’ll get that Dempsey’s departure wasn’t on amicable terms, precisely because she’s always quite talkative and eager to walk fans through the process that leads to what they perceive as a shocking (and perhaps unwelcome) twist.

As noted above, earlier this week, rumor had it that Dempsey was being a “diva” on set, which had prompted Shonda to “demote” him by taking his character out for a while. The report didn’t say what exactly Dempsey did wrong, but it claimed that the series creator was thinking of killing him off unless he started behaving himself again.

The fact that Dempsey still had another season on his contract could be seen as confirmation that something went wrong and he was punished for it. Another possibility would be that he felt this stage of his career was over and he wanted to focus more on his film roles.

Whatever happened backstage, nothing can change the fact that Dr. Shepherd is dead. How do you feel about that? Let us know in the comments section below.

Shonda Rhimes Statement