Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes must be feeling the BURN from all of the fiery, passionate fan reactions concerning last night’s emotional season nine premiere!
If you have yet to watch the nail-biter of an episode, then STOP READING ’cause we are about to SPOIL it sooo hard…
But (SPOILER ALERT!) original character Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) was taken off of life support, joining his love Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) in the beyond.
And viewers were NOT happy.
Perhaps in response to some rather frightening anti-Shonda Twitter posts, Grey’s creator took to her WhoSay account to explain WHY she must make tough calls in regards to character deaths, going into specific detail of the decision making process behind Lexie and Sloan’s tragic endings.
Read Shonda’s explanation …AFTER THE JUMP!!!
“Lexie: The death of Lexie Grey haunts me. It does. I adored that character and I couldn├óΓé¼Γäót imagine the show without her. It was important to me that her exit would have maximum impact. The plane was going to crash no matter what. I honestly wasn├óΓé¼Γäót sure, because of contract negotiations, who was going to die in that crash. In my early finale plans, once I knew Chyler was leaving the show, Lexie wasn├óΓé¼Γäót originally even on the plane. She was going to die back at the hospital by doing something as simple as slipping and hitting her head. She would have been dying over at Seattle Grace while other people were dying in the woods. Which wasn├óΓé¼Γäót my favorite plan. She would have died without Mark at her side. Without the chance to say goodbye to him. Without the chance to hear that he loved her. I wanted them together when she left us.
Mark: For me, this one is the most tragic. I├óΓé¼Γäóm VERY attached to Mark Sloan. He├óΓé¼Γäós part of the fabric of the show. Before he ever even appeared on the show, the characters discussed him. He is one of the originals. I had many options for ways Mark could leave the how. But any option that didn├óΓé¼Γäót include him dying required him to a) grieve for Lexie indefinitely and b) willingly walk away from his daughter. We fought about this incessantly in the Writers Room. I didn├óΓé¼Γäót want to Mark to die but, as the writers rightfully argued back, Mark couldn├óΓé¼Γäót abandon Sofia and he certainly couldn├óΓé¼Γäót abandon Callie once Arizona├óΓé¼Γäós leg was amputated. And even if he left, he├óΓé¼Γäód what? Wander the Earth forever loving Lexie, missing his child and never finding happiness. Hmm├óΓé¼┬ªthat doesn├óΓé¼Γäót sound like what I want for my beloved Mark Sloan. I kept pitching that he goes to L.A. and runs off with Addison. I loved that idea. But it still required Mark to abandon his child and abandon Arizona. And it meant that I├óΓé¼Γäód have to scrap all the plans I had for Addison this season ├óΓé¼ΓÇ£ and her plans are wonderful. Also, that would somehow suggest that everything he said to Lexie when she was dying was easily forgotten. So├óΓé¼┬ªI fought it and I debated it and tossed and turned about it but in the end, I had to do what was right for the integrity of the character. Mark would never abandon willingly Sofia and he would never willingly abandon Callie. So Mark dies. And he and Lexie get to be together in a way. Their love remains true.”