Showrunner Shonda Rhimes finally opened up about her decision to kill off McDreamy at the Television Critics Association’s press tour on Tuesday.
“The decision to have the character die was not a difficult one. What were the options? Derek was going to walk out on Meredith and leave her high and dry and what was that going to mean? That was going to suggest that their love was not true, that the thing we said for 11 years was a lie, and McDreamy wasn’t McDreamy. For me, that was untenable. Meredith and Derek’s love had to remain Meredith and Derek’s love. So as painful as that was for me as a storyteller, the only way to preserve what felt true to me was that Derek was going to have to die in order for that to remain honest. I really couldn’t have the idea that he turned out to be a bad guy who walked out on his wife and his kids, [and have that turn] out to be a true story. To me, that was the only way to make Meredith and Derek’s magic remain true and remain frozen in time.”
Even if you are still sad that Derek died, Patrick Dempsey wanted to leave the show and Shonda is right, their whole love story would have been ruined if Derek just walked out on Meredith. The integrity of their love story is intact. And we can still relive every moment of their great love story. Don’t the best love stories end in tragedy? This just makes their story one of the greats.
It’s like the way Julie Plec wrote Nina Dobrev off The Vampire Diaries. Nina wanted to move on with her career, but fans want an ending to the love triangle, so now she’s in a deep sleep. I hope that Nina will come back for the series finale, because then there can be a real ending.
You may not have been happy with the storyline of Derek dying because of a not well trained hospital, but you tuned into watch him die. According to Entertainment Weekly, Grey’s saw a ratings surge with 9.4 million people tuning in that night. The fans just love the drama.
There’s been some great episodes where the characters have been in danger and this one was one of them. It was so tragic and sad.
EW reported that ABC President Paul Lee stood by Shonda’s decision.
He said: “It was great, wasn’t it? It was great to see Grey’s Anatomy so relevant and taking the national conversation in its 11th season. It was a difficult decision. Patrick obviously has lots of interests outside. He’s very big in motosport. Shonda decided that was the way to go.”
Grey’s featured a lot of national conversations in its 11th season. One of them was Ben coming to terms with his brother having an operation to become a woman.
Paul said he’s seen where the show is going next season and it reinvents itself. He believes the new direction will breath new life into the show.
“She really is a remarkable showrunner and we have no reason to expect that Grey’s Anatomy won’t go on for many years to come,” Paul said.
According The Hollywood Reporter, Ellen Pompeo’s contact is up at the end of the season, but Jessica Capshaw (Arizona) just signed a new three-year contact. She will remain on the show through May 2018.
As the show continues, how many central characters will choose to leave? And how will Shonda handle all of their exits?
Grey’s Anatomy will return on Thursday 24 at 8/7c on ABC.
