19 Years Later, Shonda Rhimes Still Isn’t Over This ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Death (and Neither Are We)

This yr, Gray’s Anatomy celebrates its twentieth anniversary. For the reason that medical sequence aired its first episode, tons of of characters popped out and in each season, and a very good variety of them left Gray Sloan Memorial Hospital (beforehand referred to as Seattle Grace Hospital) did not make it very far into the present’s 21 seasons. In a brand new interview with Leisure Weekly, franchise creator Shonda Rhimes reveals that regardless of the excessive physique depend of the sequence, there may be one demise that she nonetheless hasn’t managed to recover from: Denny Duquette’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

The knowledge is a little bit of a shocker, as a result of Denny died fairly early within the sequence’ run, all the way in which again in Season 2. Nonetheless, it was additionally the present’s first huge demise, which had an influence on just about everybody who watched it. Denny was admitted to the hospital with a coronary heart situation and instantly fell in love with Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl). When his well being will get worse, Izzie breaks a very good variety of moral guidelines as a way to attempt to save him, however he does not make it. Izzie was devastated — and so was the then-showrunner Rhimes, who penned the episode herself. She acknowledged:

“I do not assume I’ve ever gotten over killing Denny, ever. I cried when he died. Actually, I cried once they had been capturing it. I could not be on the stage. I cried beforehand. I knew it was the story, and it was one of many first instances that we had had a board the place, at the start of the season, I used to be saying, “We’ll meet this man who’s dying younger.” After which on the finish of the season, we had on the board, it stated, “Dying younger man dies younger.” And I used to be like, “And that is what we’re doing.” And once we acquired to dying younger man dies younger, I used to be like, “Oh my God, it is going to need to occur.” As a result of I liked his relationship [with Izzie]. I assumed it was nice.”

Denny Made a Comeback in ‘Gray’s Anatomy’

Rhimes is not the one one which shed tears for Denny. Till right this moment, eighteen seasons later, the character continues to be listed as one of the impactful deaths within the historical past of the sequence — and we’re speaking a couple of present that killed off a number of of its lead stars together with Dr. Derek Shephard (Patrick Dempsey), Lexie Gray (Chyler Leigh), George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) and Dr. Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Giannotti). Dean Morgan was a visitor star on the sequence, however his character turned so beloved by audiences that he would possibly as effectively have been an everyday.

After his character’s demise, Dean Morgan returned to the units of Gray’s Anatomy on two events. In Season 3, when Meredith Gray (Ellen Pompeo) has a near-death expertise and sees a bunch of lifeless individuals and for a very good chunk of Season 5, when Izzie begins having visions of him as a result of a tumor in her mind. At the moment, although, Dean Morgan is generally recognized for taking part in the ruthless Negan in The Strolling Lifeless and The Strolling Lifeless: Lifeless Metropolis.

You possibly can stream all seasons of Gray’s Anatomy on Hulu.