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Shonda Rhimes Reveals ‘The Highlight Of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ In All Of Its 12 Years’

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 02:43 PST, Apr 30, 2017

Only four more episodes of Grey’s Anatomy are left until Season 13 ends. Moreover, while the ABC show was renewed for its fourteenth season, showrunner Shonda Rhimes says she needs closure.

Shonda Rhimes revealed to Entertainment Weekly the one character she regrets killing off on Grey’s Anatomy – and given the extensive list of characters the showrunner has killed off in the ABC show’s 13-season history, the revelation is pretty big!

Shonda Rhimes’s regrets date back more than a decade ago. As it turns out, the showrunner had second thoughts about killing off Dylan Young, played by Emmy-nominated actor Kyle Chandler.

Dylan Young (Kyle Chandler) was a bomb defuser in an Emmy-nominated episode of Grey’s Anatomy Season 2 in 2006. Episode director Peter Horton, who still remembers the tension-filled episode, calls it “the highlight of Grey’s Anatomy in all of its 12 years.”

The emotional episode, which shows a man with an active bomb stuck in his chest, made millions of Grey’s Anatomy viewers cry, and apparently, it was also emotional for actor Kyle Chandler himself.

Shonda Rhimes reveals that Kyle Chandler, who had appeared as Dylan Young on Grey’s Anatomy in only four episodes, begged her not to kill him off in Season 2.

“He would pitch me ideas on how Dylan, his character, could maybe not explode.”

But Shonda Rhimes insisted that Dylan Young would explode in that emotional Emmy-nominated episode — the decision that the showrunner has regretted to this very day.

“I did not expect to have Kyle Chandler. I didn’t want to explode him.”

Kyle Chandler left a long-lasting impression not only on Shonda Rhimes, but also on the rest of the Grey’s Anatomy crew. Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith Grey on the ABC series, said Chandler was “amazing.”

Pompeo added that she “wasn’t surprised” Kyle Chandler’s acting career would be successful after briefly playing Dylan Young on Grey’s Anatomy.

“I wasn’t surprised his career really took off after that because he was so natural.”

The role of Dylan Young on Grey’s Anatomy served as the launchpad for Kyle Chandler’s acting career, as the actor was nominated for an Emmy for the performance and later was cast as football coach Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights, where he received even more critical praise.

Everybody makes mistakes, even Shonda Rhimes. Last week, the showrunner, executive producer, and writer behind the Shondaland family of ABC dramas held a 30-video TV writing Masterclass, where she revealed quite a few interesting things, according to Variety.

As it turns out, if Shonda Rhimes ever decides to quit writing and working as an executive producer on ABC, the Grey’s Anatomy showrunner could pursue the career of Olympic-level figure skater.

Shonda Rhimes, who recently said she regrets killing off Dylan Young (Kyle Chandler) on Grey’s Anatomy season 2, insists that her critically-acclaimed ABC drama is “a different show every season.”

“I end the show, and I begin a different show every season. Otherwise it feels like it’s going to become sort of stale.”

Scandal, another Shonda Rhimes critically acclaimed ABC show that airs Thursdays, is an unplannable show, Rhimes says. The showrunner says it’s “a week-to-week situation” when she and the rest of the crew sit in a room to come up with plot twists for Scandal.

Shonda Rhimes also revealed that she loves the dialogue writing on Breaking Bad, the hit AMC series starring Bryan Cranston that ended its run in 2013, and added that the “I am the one who knocks” catchphrase said by Walter White (Cranston) is one of the best things that has ever happened on television.

“It’s lovely.”

Shonda Rhimes also says that she gets about 2,500 emails a day, but she only checks them once a day.

Grey’s Anatomy airs on Thursdays on ABC.

[Featured Image by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]

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