Grey’s Anatomy has seen most of its season 1 characters leave, and one of the most heartbreaking departures was that of Patrick Dempsey’s Derek Shepherd, whose death was teased six seasons early. Created by Shonda Rhimes, Grey’s Anatomy debuted on ABC in 2005, and though it began as a mid-season replacement, it was so well-received by critics and viewers that it has lived on for over 10 seasons, and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
Grey’s Anatomy follows the basic premise of medical dramas, focusing on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they do their best to juggle their professional and personal lives, which often end up overlapping. The series is led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who viewers have seen go from intern at Seattle Grace Hospital (now Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital) to Head of General Surgery, and have also followed her personal journey. Meredith married Derek Shepherd, a renowned neurosurgeon, with whom she built a family. Sadly, Derek passed away in season 11, but his death had been teased in early seasons.
In Grey’s Anatomy season 1, Derek told Meredith that if he was ever in a coma, he wanted his sisters to be by his side (sadly, that didn’t happen), but a more direct tease came in season 5. In the episode “Dream a Little Dream of Me”, Meredith and Derek got back together after she broke up with him following Cristina’s failed wedding and after Derek kissed a nurse (Rose). Meredith and Derek then began working on their “happily ever after”, but Meredith was haunted by a recurring nightmare where Derek died in an accident, which was obviously quite unsettling for her. Little did she know, that’s exactly how Derek was going to leave Grey’s Anatomy six seasons later.
Derek died in Grey’s Anatomy season 11, just like in Meredith’s nightmares. Derek was on his way back to DC to resign, as he had been working there for a while and flying back and forth was affecting his relationship with Meredith. Sadly, Derek got into a car accident, and after a lot of complications, mostly due to medical negligence, he was pronounced brain dead. Meredith then made the decision of taking him off life-support and stayed by his side until he passed away. Whether this was an intentional moment of foreshadowing early on in the series or just a happy coincidence is unknown, but it makes the story of Meredith and Derek more tragic, as in a way, Meredith already knew her “happily ever after” with Derek wasn’t going to happen.
Meredith has since tried to move on and dated William Thorpe, Nathan Riggs, and Andrew DeLuca, but her feelings for Derek are still very present. Derek Shepherd’s death is one of the most heartbreaking ones in Grey’s Anatomy (which has seen a lot of deaths), and it’s even worse when looking back at those little hints early on in the series, especially that particular nightmare Meredith kept having.