Wait, Did Grey’s Anatomy Have Derek’s Death Planned All Along?

Grey's Anatomy fans are clearly still not over Derek Shepherd's death last season. Whatever might make us think that, you ask? The fact that they're still looking for clues about why he had to die, for one thing. Case in point: A recent fan theory has surfaced on Reddit claiming that Patrick Dempsey's character was fated to a tragic end from the very beginning. Way back in the second episode of the first season, "The First Cut Is the Deepest," Meredith and Derek are standing together at a rape victim's bedside. The patient is in a coma, and Derek reveals to his future wife that he has four sisters, all of whom would be sitting vigil next to him were he ever in a coma. "I'd want them here," he tells her in the moment. Ironically enough, when Meredith eventually decides to discontinue Derek's life support after his accident, none of the sisters are there. So much for remembering and honoring his wishes. So, was this sneaky foreshadowing laid back in the early days of Grey's? Maybe — you never know with this show. But the more likely explanation for Derek's sudden death is that it had something to do with the actor's increasingly rocky relationship with series creator Shonda Rhimes. Still, the writers deserve major props if they did in fact dig back to the beginning of the series and shape Derek's death around a decades-old, throwaway scene. They certainly know how to throw superfans a scrap.