Grey’s Anatomy season 17: [Spoiler] reveals how they pulled off ‘jaw-dropping’ episode 1 twist

Ellen Pompeo had to keep the secret from all of her co-stars

Grey's Anatomy fans have Covid to thank for the big twist that rocked the season 17 premiere.

Long-time viewers of the show have been left stunned by the final scene of the new episode, which was an attempt to bring “joy and escape” to people amid lockdown.

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

Showrunner Krista Vernoff did this by bringing back Patrick Dempsey's Derek Shephard, the beloved character who was killed off in 2015.

He returned in a beach-set dream sequence after Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) collapsed outside the hospital she works in.

The episode was dedicated to frontline workers who have been helping with Covid throughout the year, which was a key factor behind Dempsey’s decision to return.

“I really love the message of what the dynamic is in this story,” he told Deadline. 

“With everything that we’re dealing with right now, and certainly we have been distracted with the election, but we’re going to get back into the reality of Covid and being in a pandemic, and all the lives that have been lost. Where are these souls going? And I think that’s what attracted me to this storyline.”

Vernoff said the idea of “a Meredith dream motif” first came after thinking of ways alleviate the pressures people were facing this year.

After she suggested they bring back some “dead characters”, Pompeo said: “Let’s get Patrick.”

Vernoff added: “Even in my most excitable dream life, that thought hadn’t occurred to me as an option, and there it was.”

Pompeo said she asked Dempsey to return while hiking together in Malibu and he “loved the idea”.

Patrick Dempsey said it was ‘really enjoyable’ returning to ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (ABC)

To keep it secret, Vernoff ensured the moment was kept out of scripts meaning the majority of the ABC drama’s actors and writing staff had no idea it was happening until it was broadcast.

“It was really enjoyable,” Dempsey said of returning to the show. “It was really exciting, and fun, and it was great to see everybody.”

Pompeo described it as “healing” to “know that we’re doing something good, putting out a positive story” that’s “going to make people smile”.  

Since the surprise was revealed, internet sleuths think they’ve worked out which other characters will return to the show in next week’s episode.