Warning: This post contains spoilers about the March 11 episode ofGrey’s Anatomy.
EW spoke withGrey’sshowrunner Krista Vernoff about how his death came together, and where the show goes from here.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Where did this story come from?
Ron Batzdorff/ABC
KRISTA VERNOFF:It’s like a story that told itself to me at the very beginning.
What are we doing?"
These episodes came in whole cloth.
Ron Batzdorff/ABC
This is what I came into the writers' room knowing.
This is what we’re doing?
I think I’m chickening out!
I think we have to save him, you guys!"
There was no decision to kill the character and then discussion of how are we going to kill him.
The whole thing downloaded and I was like, “Oh my God, we’re killing DeLuca?”
That’s how it happened.
Nobody wanted to kill DeLuca.
I didn’t want to kill DeLuca!
It is truly shocking what’s going on out there right now with sex trafficking.
It isshockingwhat is going on out there!
So when I told him this story, he was kind of happy.
There’s also power in having someone die from something completely unrelated to COVID-19 this season.
That’s what I was thinking about when these stories came.
I was preoccupied with some tragedies that I was reading about that were entirely unrelated to COVID.
My whole body was like, “Wait!
This isn’t fair!
COVID is big and bad enough, really, someone’s sister just died of cancer?
Really this person’s house just burnt down?”
I also want to touch on the beach of it all.
What was that like for you to get to create those moments?
I think it’s a gift.
I love it and I’m grateful for it.
I love that beach.
I will tell you that it has been therapeutic for me.
I wrote all the beach scenes.
That’s what I did this season.
I sat down and I wrote all the beach scenes like a play.
And I love it.
I love the play.
I love the beach.
For me anyway, I’m getting to process my grief, my hopes, my relief.
What I said to Giacomo at the table read for this episode I think is the truth.
What can you say about Carina’s (Stefania Spampinato)arc for the rest of the season?
It’s a grief arc.
I’m also concerned about Teddy.
She thought she and Owen finally did something good together, only to have it ripped away.
How is DeLuca’s death going to impact her?
Grey’s Anatomyairs Thursdays at 9 p.m.
