Grey’s Anatomy: Why Patrick Dempsey’s Derek Shepherd Was Killed Off In Season 11
Fans of “Grey’s Anatomy” were shocked when, partway through season 11 of Shonda Rhimes’ long-running medical drama, Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd — played by Patrick Dempsey — died on-screen, with his secret girlfriend-turned-wife Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) by his side. First introduced as a one night stand who turns out to be Meredith’s boss in the show’s inaugural season (all the way back in 2005 when the series premiered as a humble mid-season replacement), Derek turns out to be one of the most important characters on the series as a brilliant, world-class neurosurgeon who woos his first-year intern (Meredith), only for the show to reveal that he had an estranged wife all along. (To be fair, Kate Walsh’s entrance as Addison Shepherd, clad in a massive fur coat as she says Meredith must be the “woman sleeping with [her] husband,” is awesome, even if it makes Derek look like a real smacked ass.)
Throughout the series, Meredith and Derek battle ups and downs and date other people and argue about their future until, finally, they get married (on a Post-It), adopt a child and have two more, becoming a happy family. So, what could go wrong? In Shondaland, something can always go wrong. But why exactly did Dempsey leave the show, and why did Rhimes choose to kill Derek instead of simply writing him off? (The short answer is that Shonda Rhimes is a vengeful god — but we’ll circle back to that.)
In which episode of Grey’s Anatomy does Derek Shepherd die?
In the 21st episode of season 11, “Grey’s Anatomy” killed off one of its original characters in a particularly brutal way — so here’s how it all goes down. In the aptly-named installment “How to Save a Life” (a reference to a song by The Fray that soundtracked a major episode in season 2), Derek is heading to the airport when he sees spots a speeding car and, shortly thereafter, a two-car accident on the side of the road; as a physician, he naturally stops to help. In the wreckage, he finds mother and daughter Sarah (Che Landon) and Winnie (Savannah Paige Rae) trapped inside of their SUV, and after freeing them, he checks the speeding car and discovers a teenage couple. The girl, Alana (Allie Grant), is shaken but seemingly unharmed, but her boyfriend Charlie (Robby Rasmussen), who was driving, isn’t as lucky. (Also, their car explodes, because Shonda Rhimes loves drama.)
Like the good doctor he is, Derek helps everyone to safety and helps them into an ambulance once it arrives, hopping back into his own car. All is well, and he’s set to fly to Washington D.C. to give up a job doing medical research at the request of the President of the United States (who is never named, but hopefully, it’s Tony Goldwyn’s President Fitzgerald Grant from Rhimes’ other show “Scandal”). That’s when disaster strikes … yet again.
