Dr. Derek Shepard's exit from Grey's Anatomy is sure to signal some great changes on the show, but nothing is more obvious than the fact that losing Patrick Dempsey will equate to huge savings for the long-running show.
According to Cinema Blend, the producers of Grey's Anatomy will be saving millions of dollars by booting out the character of McDreamy, played by Dempsey. Given, the actor does not earn as much as the stars from The Big Bang Theory, but he does get a huge chunk of the Grey's Anatomy salary budget.
Reports reveal that he earns $400,000 per episode, and since the last couple of scenes for the ABC medical drama featured 24 episodes, he is earning around $9.6 million per year.
The show has been doing pretty well as far as ratings are concerned, but it isn't making as much money as it used to, so having one of the big-earning stars out might actually earn the show more money.
Dempsey himself is surprised that his character has been killed off, but he remained a gentleman as he offered this statement: "It just sort of evolved. It just kind of happened. It really was something that was kind of surprising that unfolded, and it just naturally came to be. Which was pretty good. I like the way it has all played out."
He added that McDreamy's death evolved in a very "organic" way, albeit "quickly" sometime this February or March. And he just reacted to the news by saying, "Oh, this is where it's going to go."
His work wife Ellen Pompeo, who plays McDreamy's wife Dr. Meredith Grey likes to view McDreamy's exit as an honor to individuals and families who have suffered tremendous losses and tragedies. A lot of people have lost husbands and wives to wars, and many have become victims of senseless violence, she said, but they still get up each day and "do what feels like is the impossible."
"So it is for these people and in the spirit of resilience I am honored and excited to tell the story of how Meredith goes on in the face of what feels like the impossible," she said.
A lot of the show's important mainstays have left since it first aired, including Christina and Mark, but Grey's Anatomy still managed to move on despite their depature, so there is a good chance that the show will survive even without McDreamy.
