‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Finally Says A Fitting Good-Bye To Patrick Dempsey’s McDreamy

The death of Patrick Dempsey’s Dr. Derek Shepherd shocked many fans during the last season of Grey’s Anatomy. Although many didn’t think the show gave Dempsey a proper send-off, there is a special bonus scene on the Season 11 DVD release that finally gives McDreamy some justice.

The scene, which is set to be released in the DVD version of the series, includes a few memorable moments from Dr. Shepherd’s past, along with a special word from Shonda Rhimes.

Rhimes’ ultimate decision to kill off Dempsey’s character caused a lot of backlash from dedicated Grey’s Anatomy fans, who were not ready to deal with the loss of their favorite doctor. Although Rhimes has remained elusive about her decisions to end Dempsey’s run on the show, the bonus clip includes an explanation into her thinking process.

“When I sat down to try and figure out how we were going to exit this character from the show, it started to be really difficult because I thought, ‘Do we send him off on a trip that he never comes back from? Do they get a divorce? Does their marriage break-up?’… I thought, ‘He can’t. We adore this man, and we adore this marriage and this love.’ “

Rhimes went on to state that her decision to end his life was primarily done because she didn’t want to end Dempsey’s time on the show any other way.

“If he leaves his wife, willingly walks away from his wife and his kids, and never comes back, that’s basically like saying the love that they had is a lie. It didn’t exist… He is not the man we thought he was and I could not have that. For me, that was worse than almost anything. We have to believe until the end of time that Derek Shepherd is McDreamy.”

Meanwhile, in a recent interview with E! News, Rhimes admitted that the decision was not a difficult one to make.

“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 explained, adding that she had no plans on introducing another love interest for Meredith. “I have not planned to [introduce a new love interest for her] and that’s not really the focus of what we’re doing with her right now,” she revealed. “Meredith is in a rebirth and she’s evolving. I’m watching the character do what the character’s doing and I’ll see where it goes.”

Season 12 of Grey’s Anatomy — the first without McDreamy — is set to premiere September 24.

[Image Courtesy: ABC]