Shonda Rhimes admitted during a recent interview with Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore that she knows perfectly well how to handle an actor she isn’t a fan of.
According to E! News, Rhimes shocking confession is that she killed off someone’s character on a show because she hated the actor portraying the said character.
When asked, “Have you ever killed off a character because you didn’t like the actor? And extra bonus points, who was it…Don’t even think about lying,” Rhimes replied, “Yes, and I’m not naming names.”
Shonda’s main shows — Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Private Practice and How To Get Away With Murder have featured some of our all-time favorite characters on television. And we’ve had to say goodbye to many of them.
Although she wouldn’t dish exactly which actor she got the boot, fans can easily speculate.
As fans may know, Rhimes is the queen of killing off characters, so there are plenty of people to point to. It could be Patrick Dempsey, who starred on the show Grey’s Anatomy for over ten years before his character McDreamy met his untimely death.
Although Dempsey denied he was fired from the hit ABC medical drama, right after his Entertainment Weekly feature came out, rumors started circulating that Rhimes fired the actor for having an inappropriate relationship with a colleague while on set.
His rep went on to deny this claim as well. This may be a popular theory to go with since McDreamy’s death is so fresh in everyone's minds.
During TCAs, Rhimes said that killing off McDreamy wasn’t an easy choice. "We had a lot of discussions about it," she explained. "It wasn't easy or fun, it is never easy or fun. We've been working really hard for a long time together. We're family. Those choices and those decisions are never easy for any of us."
So which other characters have died on her various shows?
On Private Practice, both Pete (Tim Daly) and Dell (Chris Lowell) didn’t make it. On Scandal, we’ve most notably lost James (Dan Bucatinsky). On Grey’s Anatomy, we’ve lost beloved characters like George (T.R. Knight), Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Lexie (Chyler Leigh), Mark (Eric Dane) and most recently Derek (Patrick Dempsey).
