Grey's Anatomy: The Derek Theory That Fans Find Farfetched

Let's playback how Derek died, shall we? He gets full-on annihilated by an oncoming semi-truck — half a newton short of exploding. After that, he's bleeding from his brain, but the doctors don't give him a CT scan. Instead, he bleeds out, and then his wife shows up and has the doctors pull the plug on him while Snow Patrol dramatically plays in the background — a song about chasing cars that, frankly, seems like it's in pretty poor taste. Every once in a while, he shows up in "Grey's Anatomy" as a ghost in his widow's dreams.

Okay, so you know how sometimes after that happens, you come back and everything's fine? Oh, you don't? That doesn't happen? Those are the ramblings of a maniac? Well, try telling that to some "Grey's Anatomy" fans, who believe in their heart of hearts that Patrick Dempsey's Doctor Derek Shepherd is still out there, living the McDream, after getting destroyed in season 11.

The thought process goes like this: "What if Doctor Derek Shepherd was still alive, and fixin' to make a return any minute now?" This fan theory has floated around on Reddit's r/greysanatomy forum more than once. Generally speaking, the response tends to be a collective replying: "What are you talking about?" Putting aside the unforgiving nature of "Grey's Anatomy" steward Shonda Rhimes' bloody reign, it's a little difficult to parse how even a merciful creator could bring Derek back to life after a truck turned his insides into a Play-Doh factory.

"I've seen so many fans on Twitter and Instagram speculate about this scenario and how he's 100% still alive and I think it's just delusional," u/alwaysxsleeping wrote in response to a post asking if anyone thought that the good doctor was still kicking. u/yellowchaitea chimed in: "While it feels like a soap opera, Grey's is not an actual soap opera where people are fake dead."

The sad fact of the matter is that nobody likes watching beloved "Grey's Anatomy" characters die. Still, it's a series that's too grounded in reality to bring someone back to life. Doing something like that would cheapen old episodes about lions getting loose. Say what you will about "Grey's Anatomy," but this is –at times, over-the-top — show that knows what it likes.