By @BethanCasee
Patrick Dempsey Credit PA Images
Spoilers included in this article.
A Grey’s Anatomy shocker as the Season 17 premiere teased fans with a tearful jaw-dropping ending.
Derek Shepherd is back from the dead!!
The biggest twist of the show was killing off Derek Shepherd in April 2015 but now the beloved Patrick Dempsey is back.
Season 11 is classed as the most heart-breaking of them all as we said goodbye to McDreamy.
However, six seasons later he has once again graced our screens, leaving us heartbroken that we will have to say goodbye all over again when only some of us (me) have just gotten over his death.
Patrick's character appears in a fever dream, which is very common throughout the series after his widow, Meredith Grey collapses in the car park of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
Meredith Grey is played by the talented Ellen Pompeo, the series' central character. Throughout the show, she has had a series of unfortunate events that have happened to her and everyone she knows and loves, but she is one of only three members of the original cast left in the show.
The 17th season returned on Thursday in the US with a two-hour premiere which featured heavily on the doctors dealing with the pandemic. It is apparent that the physical, mental and emotional stress is affecting Meredith, along with many of the other doctors. It seems fitting that the show is focusing on the pandemic as Seattle was the first confirmed case in the US.
They had to cut to season 16 short, so it seems right to centre the newest season around it. In the premiere after Meredith collapses and enters the dream-like sequence with Derek, fans are assuming that this is a result to our main character catching COVID-19 but showrunner Krista Vernoff has not confirmed anything.
The episode begins with Meredith on the sandy white beach yet reality hits as Meredith walks into Grey Sloan. We assume it is a classic daydream towards the end of the episode as Cormac Hayes (Richard Flood) finds her unconscious on the floor. Then we enter Meredith’s mind where she is on the same beach as before.
This is where our beloved Derek appears as he shouts her name, waving his arms and giving us that gorgeous smile (you know the one) and the episode ends with Meredith shocked asking “Derek?”
According to Krista Vernoff, it was all Patrick and Ellen's idea when they were hiking together in Malibu. After hearing the idea, she was excited and she opened up about the new season: “The most important task we had this season was to honour the reality of this global pandemic and the impact it’s having – particularly on healthcare workers” (The Hollywood).
“Derek’s return provided pure joy for us, for Meredith, and for the fans.” Vernoff said.
In the episode, we see Meredith’s health deteriorating at an alarming speed and she says that if she falls asleep, she will never wake up again. Has our hero doctor contracted covid-19 or is it something worse?
But don’t you worry as it is not a one-time appearance for our handsome Neurosurgeon, it has been announced that he will appear in next’s week episode “My Happy Ending.”
Patrick Dempsey has always been open to returning so it looks like we could get half or even a full season of him.
You can watch the new series every Thursday on ABC in the US and it airs on Sky Witness in the UK with selected episodes on NOW TV and Amazon Prime Video.
RELATED: Patrick Dempsey says his Grey's Anatomy return was a 'healing process'
The 54-year-old actor made a shocking appearance in the season 17 premiere this week as he reprised his role of Derek Shepherd - who died after a car crash in series 11 - in a beach dream sequence with Ellen Pompeo's character Meredith Grey, who falls unconscious in the hospital car park... to read more click HERE
Tagged in Ellen Pompeo Patrick Dempsey Grey's Anatomy