Killing Me Softly: Shonda Rhimes Only Regrets Killing One Character On 'Grey's Anatomy'

As #ShondaRhimes once again closes the book on another dramatic year of #GreysAnatomy, she is looking back over the past 13 seasons of casualties and crying in homage to those who have come and gone in the hospital heartbreaker.

Alongside County General Hospital from ER, the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital is the most dangerous medical facility out there — hell, I would rather go to St. Elsewhere. However, with rarely a dry eye in the house, Grey's has thrown some truly devastating deaths our way. Whether it be George O'Malley, Denny Duquette, or even Mc. Dreamy himself, Rhimes has revealed there is only one death that she truly regrets.

No Regrets

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the no-nonsense director revealed that she doesn't pull any punches when culling her cast, but there was one death she instantly regretted.

Rhimes says she struggled to kill off Kyle Chandler's character Dylan Young, who memorably appeared back in 2006. Although Chandler may be better known for his role as lovable Coach Taylor on #FridayNightLights, he appeared in an explosive episode of Grey's second season.

Discussing the character's exit, Rhimes recalled how tough it was:

"He would pitch me ideas on how Dylan, his character, could maybe not explode. I would show him the line in the script that said, 'Dylan explodes.' That’s literally all it said. He was written to explode."

Dylan was part of a bomb disposal squad who were tasked with removing a live bomb from inside a patient. Ellen Pompeo's Meredith had held her hand on the bomb for the majority of the episode, while Dylan eventually managed to remove it and walked away to save those around him. Knowing that even the slightest movement would set the bomb off, Dylan was dramatically killed in the inevitable explosion.

Taken Too 'Young'

The show has killed some huge characters in its time and they all had truly emotional exits. Everyone remembers T.R. Knight's O'Malley heroically saving a woman from a bus and his unrecognizable body arriving at the hospital. Elsewhere, even Patrick Dempsey wasn't safe as Meredith's husband Derek Shepherd and bowed out in the 11th season.

Even after all that, Rhimes says she only regrets killing off Dylan:

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

While we are pretty sure that Meredith would regret some of the other deaths a bit more, Pompeo at least shares some of the creator's sentiments:

"I remember thinking Kyle Chandler was amazing. I wasn’t surprised his career really took off after that because he was so natural."

Luckily, Chandler did get to return (posthumously) for one more round in the third season's "Some Kind of Miracle," appearing to Meredith when it seemed that she had drowned in the previous episode.

Who knows what would've happened if Dylan had successfully defused the bomb, but knowing the cut-throat mentality of Rhimes, he probably would've been killed in a plane crash, developed some terminal disease, or been blown away by a tornado by now. Also, we have to thank you, Shonda, for giving us Coach Taylor!

(Source: Entertainment Weekly)