While Patrick Dempsey has taken plenty of handsome man roles over the years, he’s been most identifiable as Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy, a role he occupied for nearly 11 seasons on ABC. Now that his Grey’s Anatomy gig has ended, however, it seems the actor is looking for a new series, and fast. Reports this week indicate that Dempsey is already taking meetings and ready to sign on for another TV role.
Right now, the networks have set their schedules for the fall TV season, but there are still plenty of shows that Dempsey could potentially sign on for in the cable or network realm. In addition, even if he doesn’t land on television by the fall, new TV projects are in development all the time. Dempsey just theoretically needs to find the right project to reboot his career, and that could come on network television, cable television or even a streaming service, like Netflix, which is really looking to beef up its original programming right now.
The real test will be whether or not Dempsey can move beyond McDreamy, and soon. He’s already told EW that he knows it could be a challenge to try to sell himself as a different type of character on TV.
I want to try something different. But will I be allowed to do something different? Is Derek so identifiable that I can’t go on and be someone else? That will be the challenge. To see if people embrace me as someone else.
For more than a decade, Patrick Dempsey played lead McDreamy on Grey’s Anatomy. Just a few weeks ago, the character was killed off of the medical drama in an abrupt exit that shocked and bewildered many fans. A petition was even created to bring the character back, although the idea is honestly wild, as Dr. Derek Shepherd was killed on the drama and the characters continued to move on without him at the end of the season. Unfortunately, Grey’s Anatomy doesn’t rely on a Lazarus Pit.
It’s nice to hear that Patrick Dempsey is taking meetings for a new TV role. We’ve been hearing various reports about the actor for months. Some of them linked to problems between the actor and Shonda Rhimes on set; other reports indicated that Dempsey might want to spend more time with his auto racing career. It looks like he hopes to balance his racing and acting careers, after all. We’ll let you know as soon as Patrick Dempsey lands another TV role. With a little luck, that'll come sooner rather than later.
