'Death was the only option': Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes says killing-off McDreamy was an easy decision... because it keeps his love for Meredith 'frozen in time'

Published: 14:05 EST, 5 August 2015 | Updated: 15:22 EST, 5 August 2015

View
comments

Shonda Rhimes has defended her decision to kill-off Patrick Dempsey's character Derek Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy.

The creator of the hit ABC drama said that death was the only way for McDreamy to be parted from his wife Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) while keeping their love intact.

In an April episode, the surgeon was involved in a car crash that left him brain dead, resulting in Meredith being forced to make the heartbreaking decision to take him off life support.

Scroll down for video

Breaking her silence: Shonda Rhimes pictured on Tuesday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills where she defended her decision to kill-off Patrick Dempsey's character McDreamy

Love remains intact: Rhimes said that faced with Dempsey's decision to leave, she had to keep McDreamy and wife Meredith Grey's (Ellen Pompeo) love intact so death was the only way to part them

But Rhimes says that after Dempsey, 49, had decided to move on from the show, there was no other option but to kill-off his character.

Speaking at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Rhimes said: 'The decision to have the character die the way that he did was not a difficult one in the sense of what were the options?

'Either Derek was going to walk out on Meredith and leave her high and dry, and what was that going to mean?

'That would suggest that love was not true, the thing we had said for 11 years was a lie and McDreamy wasn't McDreamy. For me, that was untenable.'

Rebirth: Rhimes said Season 12, which returns in September, will now get a reset and will explore Meredith's life as a single woman, Pompeo seen here on Tuesday with Rhimes

She then explained further why death was the only option for the character.

'Meredith and Derek's love had to remain Meredith and Derek's love. As painful as it was for me as a storyteller, the only way to preserve what felt true to me was Derek was going to have to die for that love to remain honest.'

Killing him off, therefore, keeps their love 'forever frozen in time', Rhimes reasoned.

Painful decision: Meredith is forced to pull life support on her husband after he becomes brain dead following a car crash

Patrick Dempsey's emotional Grey's Anatomy end

While McDreamy's death devastated many fans, Rhimes insists it will reset the show come Season 12.

Discussing the 'rebirth' theme, the creator said that Meredith will now emerge as a single woman when the show returns in September.

The 45-year-old screenwriter added: 'We do have this world in which Meredith is single, and she is living this life that she hadn't thought she was going to be living again

'[She's] surrounded by women who are dating and having a whole life and she's not interested in any of that. You start to wonder if there's a second life, or are those years behind you?'