Shonda Rhimes admitted even she is stunned by some of the heartbreaking choices she has made at Grey Sloan Memorial.
The Grey’s Anatomy creator reflected on the toughest decisions in the medical drama’s two-decade run including killing off beloved characters.
“I look back on some of the deaths of some characters, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe I did that,’” she confessed on the March 10 episode of Craig David’s Glass Half Full podcast.
Still, Rhimes insisted her loyalty lies with the narrative, not the audience.
“My job is to be the keeper of the story,” she explained. “My job is not to be the keeper of the fans. My job is not to be the keeper of my friendships with actors. My job is to do what the story dictates.”
Over the years, Grey’s Anatomy has delivered some of TV’s most shocking deaths from George O’Malley’s bus accident to Derek Shepherd’s tragic demise.
But one loss still haunts Rhimes: Denny Duquette, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
“I did what the story dictated, and I hated every minute of it for Izzie in those early seasons,” she admitted.
Rhimes emphasized that these gut-wrenching exits are never personal.
“If an actor has to be killed off, it’s because that’s what the story calls for. Not because I don’t like that actor or the actor’s not doing great,” she told Entertainment Weekly last year.
As she said: “You put out the art, they react to the art.”
