Shonda Rhimes Defends Killing Derek Off 'Grey's Anatomy'

Ellen Pompeo and Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes sit in a panel together during the ABC portion of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour on Tuesday (August 4) in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The ladies were joined on the panel by Scandal‘s Kerry Washington and How to Get Away with Murder‘s Viola Davis.

Shonda opened up about why she decided to kill off Patrick Dempsey‘s character Derek from Grey’s Anatomy after the actor made plans to leave the show.

“The decision to have the character die the way that he did, was not a difficult one in the sense of what were the options? Either Derek was going to walk out on Meredith and leave her high and dry and what was that going to mean?” Shonda said (via THR). “That was going to suggest that their love was not true – that the thing we said for 11 years was a lie and McDreamy wasn’t McDreamy and that was untenable. Meredith and Derek’s love had to remain Meredith and Derek’s love. As painful as it was for me as a storyteller because I never thought that would happen, the only way to preserve that is Derek had to die for that love to remain honest. I couldn’t have that he turned out to be a bad guy who walked out on his wife and kid … for me, the only way was to make Derek and Meredith’s magic to remain true and forever frozen in time.”

FYI: Ellen is wearing a Roland Mouret outfit, Aquazzura shoes, and jewelry by Jennifer Meyer and Rachel Katz.

15+ pictures inside of Ellen Pompeo attending the panel…