14 DAY TRIAL // If you were surprised by the events on the latest season of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” which resulted in leading man Patrick Dempsey’s exit, you were not the only one. Not even his co-stars imagined that his Dr. Derek Dempsey aka Dr. McDreamy would meet such a shocking ending.
James Pickens Jr. plays Dr. Richard Webber on the series and, with Dempsey, he is one of the original castmembers, having joined the series right at the start, in 2005. He didn’t even imagine his co-star would be leaving them this current season.
“It was kind of on the fly”
Pickens was at the ABC upfronts the other day and ABC News spoke to him about this season’s biggest surprise: the exit no one saw coming and very few fans are still ok with, even though the episode aired a few weeks back.
Countering rumors that he had gotten into some kind of fight with series creator / writer Shonda Rhimes or that he had been acting as a diva, which cost him his job, Dempsey had said that his exit was amicable, albeit surprising.
He had no idea this would be the direction the story would take. He found out about his character’s death shortly before having to do the scene, and at the time of the interview, he was still not done processing it.
This said, it’s probably no surprise that his co-stars had no idea of it either. Whether Rhimes wrote him out to “punish” him or to get even, or because she thought this would feel convincing to the story, she did it in the utmost secrecy.
“We didn’t know a whole lot. It was kind of on the fly,” Pickens says. “So whatever information we got, we pretty much got it kind of right before it happened.”
He agrees that Shepherd was what made “Grey” “Grey,” but is convinced that everything will turn out for the better, both for the show and for Dempsey, of whom he says he’s “a very talented guy” with a bright future ahead.
Shonda Rhimes speaks
Shonda Rhimes isn’t much for explaining creative decisions she makes about her show, so chances of her addressing reports that she had a beef with Dempsey, for which she punished him, were slim from the start.
She did, however, express regret at having to part ways with him, and spoke highly of a collaboration that resulted in the creation of one of the most memorable characters on modern television.
The latest episode of “Grey” included another Shepherd scene, one that brought a sense of closure both to still-grieving fans and the fictional loved ones he left behind.
As you can see from the tweet below, it also brought tears to Shonda’s eyes, because it came with the realization this would be the last time she’d ever get to make contact with this beloved character.
Unfortunately, the fans who took issue with her decision to kill him off are not convinced by her Twitter declaration of love. Are you?
Here come my own personal supply of tissues. Goodbye, birthday twin. Can't believe this is his last scene I'll ever see in my editing room.
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) May 15, 2015
Yup. I shed some East Coast tears when I thought about the fact that it was the last new scene of his I'd ever see. https://t.co/dmUIDlxCN1
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) May 15, 2015