Eric Dane’s recently announced exit from Grey’s Anatomy may have caught fans by surprise, but creator Shonda Rhimes wasn’t quite as blindsided. “It was a thing that Eric had been thinking about for a while, but it felt like the right time to him” she tells EW. “I love Eric, and Eric and I have been working together for a very long time, so it was bittersweet. I’m happy he’s going to go on and do other things, but I’m really sad to not be able to work with him every day.”

Creatively, the timing was also right. After last season’s plane crash, which claimed the life of Lexi Grey (Chyler Leigh), many fates — including that of Dane’s character Mark Sloane — were left up in the air. And though Dane is slated to return for two episodes in the upcoming ninth season, Rhimes says his imminent appearance should not necessarily be considered a nod to his fate on the show, especially in light of the unique format of the season’s first episodes.

“When we start the season, we are ahead enough in time where we see the outcome of lots of things. And in the second episode of the season, there’s rewind — we go backwards — to where they’re still in the forest,” she shares. “So you see what happened and in the next episode, you see how we get there. That was a really great experiment for us, and we think it turned out really really well.” This approach, she says, allowed them to tackle the crash aftermath in a way that felt different from what fans saw after the equally traumatizing hospital shooting a few seasons ago.

The third episode will resume the timeline seen in the premiere, and looking ahead, she says she’s planning on using Dane’s absence to bring Justin Chambers and Jesse Williams to the forefront in a big way. “The loss of ‘McSteamy’ [Dane] is going to leave a giant hole in our world in terms of — for lack of a better phrase — man whore-ness. I’ve told the actors who play Alex and Jackson [Chambers and Williams] that we need some leading men here. We need to add to that pool, and they’re going to step up,” she says. “I think the breed of what Eric Dane did can never be replaced, but I do think there’s some room for some men at the hospital to spread their wings. We haven’t seen that in a while.” That includes, she adds, a possible love for Alex (“I’m looking for Alex to find his person”) and exploring the dynamic between Jackson and newly devirginized April (Sarah Drew). “I think it’s going to be funny, sexy, and good,” she says.

沪江娱乐快讯：《实习医生格蕾》中马克·斯隆（Grey’s Anatomy）的扮演者埃里克·迪恩（Eric Dane）早前宣布将离开本剧令不少观众都大感意外，但该剧主创桑德·莱姆斯（Shonda Rhimes）对此却相当冷静。“埃里克从前一阵子起就开始考虑这件事了，只是现在时机才成熟。”桑德告诉《娱乐周刊》（EW）杂志。“我很欣赏埃里克，而且我们也已经共事了很久，所以他的离开让我心情很复杂。我一方面为他决定继续发展自己的演艺事业感到高兴，另一方面又因以后不能再与他每天都在一起工作而感到难过。”

随着迪恩告别《实习医生格蕾》，马克在剧中的戏份也快要结束了。第八季的那场空难不仅夺去了莱西·格蕾（Lexie Grey）的生命，而且包括马克在内的若干角色也都生死未卜。虽然目前的计划是迪恩将继续出演第九季的前两集，但莱姆斯说马克的故事不是仅用两集就能讲完的，其原因在于第九季首集将运用一种独特的故事架构。

第三集又将接着第一集的时间线继续发展。关于未来，桑德表示她正在考虑大幅度增加贾斯汀·钱伯斯（Justin Chambers）和杰西·威廉姆斯（Jesse Williams）的戏份，以此来弥补迪恩的离开。“告别马克，我们的世界空了一块，通俗地说，‘惹火先生’（McSteamy）走了，我们上哪儿才找得到另一个像他那么性感的‘舞男医生’啊！我告诉阿历克斯（Alex）和杰克森（Jackson）的演员说剧集现在需要男主角，他们俩都是候选人，钱伯斯和威廉姆斯肯定会努力争取这个机会的。“桑德说。”没人可以取代马克在我心里的位置，不过我也认为剧中还有让其他帅哥医生展示魅力的空间。只是目前我们还没看到而已。”桑德随后又补充说阿历克斯可能会开展新恋情（“我正在为阿历克斯寻找他的真命天女。”），与此同时，她也在继续为杰克森与艾普丽尔（April）制造暧昧情愫。“他们俩会是一对既可爱又养眼的甜蜜情侣。”