Shonda Rhimes' 'Grey's Anatomy' warning: 'we might not see Derek for a while'

Derek really is leaving Grey Sloan Memorial.

As we saw in the Greys Anatomy winter finale, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) firmly encouraged Derek (Patrick Dempsey) to finally take that position in Washington D.C. after spending months resenting her for not taking it in the first place.

We end them in a fairly dark place, executive producer Shonda Rhimes tells EW. Hes walking away and shes sort of pushed him out the door. Its like, you call someones bluff and push them out the door. Hes having a hard time, shes having a hard time with this.

The closing moments of the finale were juxtaposed to the big breakup between Ellis Grey (Kate Burton) and Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), which insinuated that Meredith had finally completed the transformation of becoming her cold and heartless mother. I love the echoes of her mother that are in there and what that means for her. I love the idea that this could possibly mean that for the first time in her life at the hospital, she has neither Cristina [Sandra Oh] nor Derek, and therefore is essentially alone and how shes going to cope with that. Its going to be very interesting for her.

EW has confirmed that the show will not be taking place in both Seattle and Washington, D.C., which means that Derek will be missing in action. Its highly possible that we might not see Derek for a while, Rhimes says, adding that Dempsey is not gone for good by any means. There will be a time when you see him again, yes, but its probable that you wont see Derek for a while.

Greys Anatomy returns Thursday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Read this article:
Shonda Rhimes' 'Grey's Anatomy' warning: 'we might not see Derek for a while'