Patrick Dempsey may disappoint legions of "Grey's Anatomy" fans if he decides to abandon his Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd role after ten years on the hit ABC drama.
The 47-year-old actor spoke to TVLine about his future on the show, and if he will leave to pursue his passion, road racing. Dempsey said he is unsure if he will stay on the series after season 10 wraps up. He revealed that if he does stay on for season 11, he may request more schedule flexibility. "Everything is open to a conversation at this point," Dempsey said.
"'Grey's' has been such a remarkable ride," he continued. "Shonda [Rhimes] has been incredibly supportive. I enjoy 'Grey's' more than ever in many ways. Our relationships have grown considerably. We've all matured over the last 10 years. So it would be a shame to end this."
As far as his contract negotiations go, Dempsey said, "We're talking. We'll see what happens."
He also revealed what it was like to find out that Sandra Oh was leaving the show. Oh told the cast she was leaving at the table read for the 200th episode. "She took the cast aside individually and said, 'I'm going to leave the show,'" Dempsey said. "With any member of the show, especially the original cast, it's always sad to see someone leave."
He added that the reading for the landmark 200th episode had everyone "celebrating the achievement."
"There was openness and a joy in the entire room. It was a remarkable day," he revealed.
Despite his love for the show, Dempsey is more focused on pursuing his favorite hobby: racing. He created a four-part Velocity documentary series called "Patrick Dempsey: Racing Le Mans," which premiered last night at 10 p.m.
He spoke about why the new series is a success, and why racing fans will enjoy it. "We don't hide anything," he said. "We're very open about the triumphs and we're very clear about the mistakes. It shows the journey and the learning process. And it will hopefully bring some awareness to the history of racing in this country, and the importance of what Le Mans represents for endurance racing."
He was very involved in the editing process, and tried to use an "honest" approach in perfecting the footage.
He also commented on some of the biggest misconceptions about racing. "I don't think people quite understand road racing in this country. Oval racing and NASCAR have overwhelmed it," he explained. "But road racing was a very big part of this country [starting] after World War II. People don't really understand the depth of the history of road racing, and the kind of commitment and focus and luck and passion it takes to be able to win a race."
Will Dempsey say goodbye to "Grey's" forever? We don't yet know for sure, but he did say that he would love to pursue racing full-time.
"I would love to," he admitted. "It depends on sponsorships. It depends on not being on a show. It's kind of amazing, the [commitment] level I have right now with the amount of responsibility I have with the show and everything else."
"Grey's Anatomy" season 10 returns with a two-hour premiere on Thursday, September 26 on ABC.
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