Grey’s Anatomy showrunner reveals Patrick Dempsey’s will return again

Fans of Grey’s Anatomy were left stunned following Thursday’s Season 17 premiere after Patrick Dempsey made a surprise appearance five years after his character was killed off the series.

Now Krista Vernoff, the current Grey’s Anatomy showrunner, has revealed that fans can expect even more appearances from Dempsey, 54, throughout the season.

The 46-year-old screenwriter admitted Friday in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that the late Derek ‘McDreamy’ Shepherd will reappear three more times during the current season.

‘We will see more of [Derek] this season,’ she told the Times. ‘This was not just a cameo. He will appear three more times.’

In Thursday night’s premiere, Shepherd reappeared to his former wife, Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), during a dream sequence.

The scene was filmed on a Malibu beach, as both actors live nearby. 

Dempsey’s character was killed off toward the end of season 11, when his car was struck by a semi truck after he stopped to assist the victims of a car crash.  

Shonda Rhimes, who created Grey’s Anatomy, told E! at the time that McDreamy had to be killed off once Dempsey wanted to leave the show, as it would compromise his love story with Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) if he abandoned her. 

According to Vernoff, saving the surprise return for Thursday night required treating the episode’s as ‘top secret’ until the day of film.

In order to throw off the writers and anyone else who might see the script, she wrote the scene as a dream reunion with her mother Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), instead of McDreamy.

‘We didn’t tell the writers for the longest time. When she’s walking and she looks as someone is calling to her, and she goes, “Derek?” In the script, I had it as Ellis Grey,’ Vernoff explained.

‘And she goes, “Mom?” We read it at the table that way. Nobody knew what we were doing — to the point that when the crew showed up on the day we shot the scene, nobody knew. It was top secret.’

The series has become infamous for killing off its main cast, and Vernoff didn’t rule out the possibility of other characters returning.

‘I mean, wouldn’t it be exciting if we did?’ she joked.

On Thursday, Dempsey shared his gratitude about being asked back to the series that boosted him to stardom in an interview with Deadline.

‘It’s crazy how much time has passed, but it really was so comforting, and lovely, and inspiring to go back, and to work together, to see everybody,’ he said.

‘It really was so open too; that was the thing, really — people were very, I think, vulnerable in a positive way, where we were all grateful to be there and to be together.’

In the premiere, Derek’s surprise appearance was preceded by his sister Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) taking home her newborn baby with Atticus ‘Link’ Lincoln (Chris Carmack), whom they named Scout Derek Shepard Lincoln in his honor.

But shortly after the touching name reveal, Meredith collapsed in the parking lot of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, which launched into the dream sequence.

Vernoff admitted to Deadline that she hadn’t considered the possibility of Dempsey returning, even in her most ‘excitable dream life,’ but Pompeo suggested him after Vernoff came up with the idea of having a dead character return in a dream.