'Grey's Anatomy' Showrunner Reveals How Many Episodes Patrick Dempsey Will Appear In This Season

There was a huge surprise during the season 17 premiere of Grey’s Anatomy – the return of Patrick Dempsey as Derek Shepherd.

The 54-year-old actor appeared on the ABC series again as part of Ellen Pompeo‘s character Meredith Grey’s dream sequence.

You might remember that Derek died during a tragic accident in an episode that aired back in April 2015.

Grey’s showrunner Krista Vernoff has confirmed that we’ll be seeing more of Derek this season.

“We will see more of [Derek] this season,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “This was not just a cameo. He will appear three more times.”

She also talked about how she kept the return a surprise from everyone, including cast and crew.

Krista said, “We didn’t tell the writers for the longest time. When she’s walking and she looks as someone is calling to her, and she goes, ‘Derek?’ In the script, I had it as Ellis Grey. And she goes, ‘Mom?’ We read it at the table that way. Nobody knew what we were doing — to the point that when the crew showed up on the day we shot the scene, nobody knew. It was top secret.”

Ellen just revealed the one word she wasn’t allowed to say on TV during season one.