Grey's Anatomy just brought back a huge character and everyone is crying

13 November 2020, 11:20

Ellen Pompeo opens up about Patrick Dempsey’s Grey’s Anatomy return

By Sam Prance

Grey's Anatomy season 17 started with the surprise return of a fan favourite character.

Grey's Anatomy fans assemble. The show just brought back one of the series' most iconic characters and the internet can't deal.

Last night (Nov 13), the first episode of Grey's Anatomy season 17 aired on ABC. As promised, the episode saw the beloved Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital deal with the outbreak of COVID-19. The new season begins in April 2020 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and we see fan favourite characters, like Meredith, Bailey and Jackson, deal with the effects of it.

READ MORE: Sandra Oh says she won't return to Grey's Anatomy

However, it's the return of a dead character that everyone is losing their minds over. It's so emotional that people are crying.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID MAJOR SPOILERS

Derek returns to Grey’s Anatomy

Derek is back. No. We are not joking. Patrick Dempsey has returned to Grey's Anatomy to play Derek Shepherd again. Don't worry though. It's not as bizarre as you might think. Derek is still dead... but he appears in a dream sequence after Meredith collapses in the Grey Sloan Memorial carpark, marking Patrick's first time in the show since Derek died in season 11.

In the surprise scene, we see Meredith and Derek reunite on a beach and Derek looks as handsome and McDreamy as ever. Meredith screams: "I miss you," at Derek and he replies: "I know." It's currently unclear if Meredith will be okay.

Why did Patrick Dempsey leave Grey's Anatomy?

Speaking to People about his decision to leave the show back in 2015, Patrick said: "I’m very grateful for Grey’s Anatomy. It’s given me the opportunity to do everything. But at the same time, there was a cost. I think after a certain period of time, no matter how much money you make, you want control out of your own schedule."

Fans thought that Parick would never return so the entire internet is freaking out. Here are a few of the reactions so far.

Speaking to Deadline about how Patrick's return came about, Ellen said: "Patrick and I both have homes in Malibu, and we went for a hike one day. We were hiking in Malibu, which, you can see the beach. And the idea just struck me so I just said to him, would you ever consider coming and being a part of the storytelling this season?"

She then added: "There’s just so much darkness, and we knew that coming together would be a little ray of light. And so, I think we had the same idea, at the core, to want to help people and bring a smile to people’s faces. So, he loved the idea, and we were just so excited, and we had a ball filming it."

Meanwhile, Patrick said: "It was really enjoyable. It was really exciting, and fun, and it was great to see everybody." And he even teased that he filmed more scenes so expect more Derek content!

No. I'm not crying. You are!

What did you think about Patrick's return?