Derek Shepherd was a cornerstone of Grey's Anatomy and, more importantly, of its hero Meredith Grey's life. But the tragic death in a car accident last season, Meredith will now have to discover what she wants her new life without him to look like.
And according to creator Shonda Rhimes, Meredith's future is looking bright. "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?" Rhimes said at the 2015 Summer TCA press tour in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, August 4. She went on explaining, "Either 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 the 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." She continued, "Meredith and Derek's love had to remain Meredith and Derek's love.
As painful as it was for me as a storyteller, because I had never really thought that was going to happen, it preserved what felt true to me, was that Derek was going to have to die in order for that love to remain honest. Because I really couldn't have the idea that he just turned out to be a bad guy who walked out on his wife and kids be a true story. To me, it felt like that was the only way to make Meredith and Derek's magic remain true and forever frozen in time."
The decision to kill off Derek was shocking since Dempsy still had one year before his contract ended. However, Rhimes said the decision was mutual. "We had a lot of discussions about it," Rhimes revealed. "It wasn't easy or fun, it is never easy or fun. We've been working really hard for a long time together. We're family. Those choices and those decisions are never easy for any of us."
