Ellen Pompeo Reveals How She Got Patrick Dempsey To Return To 'Grey's Anatomy ' 5 Years After His Exit
2023/03/16
McDreamy is back! The end of the Nov. 12 episode of Grey’s Anatomy featured Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) collapsing in the hospital parking lot, then having a dream sequence where she reunited with her late husband, Derek (Patrick Dempsey), who died in 2015. Earlier this year, Ellen and Patrick actually reunited in real life, which is when she first brought up the idea of him returning to the series to “bring a smile to people’s faces” amidst the devastation of 2020.
It was actually showrunner Krista Vernoff who first had the idea of bringing back a dead character during a dream sequence with Meredith. She brought the idea up to Ellen, who was set on getting Patrick to do it. Krista, Patrick and Ellen all discussed the sequence of events in an interview with Deadline.
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