Why Dr. Nathan Riggs by Martin Henderson left Gray’s anatomy

After Dr. Derek Shepherd, the love of Meredith Gray’s life (Ellen Pompeo) played by Patrick Dempsey in “Gray’s Anatomy”, a prolonged death died as a result of a car accident in the 11th season, the long -term medical drama of Shonda seemed to feel an inexplicable need to match a new man as quickly as possible. (Pompeo finally intervened in that impulse; we will return to its extraordinarily strongly overwhelming reaction). This came in the form of Dr. Nathan Riggs, a character played by Martin Henderson during the twelfth season of “Gray’s Anatomy.” A military surgeon who works along with the recently deployed Dr. April Kepner (Sarah Drew) and has long -standing beef with the trauma of the Gray Sloan Memorial Hospital that attends Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), Nathan is a fairly pleasant guy … but his romance with Meredith is forced and strange, and all He knows, including Pompeo.

When it comes to Nathan’s trajectory in “Gray’s Anatomy”, here is the essence. After bringing a child who needs advanced medical help together with April to Seattle from Jordan, Nathan ends up working in Gray Sloan Memorial as an assistant cardiotoral surgeon next to Meredith’s half sister, the head of the department of Dr. Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCeary). Despite Maggie’s crush for Nathan, and enmity between him and Meredith, who tells Nathan to put on the side of Owen before knowing what his problem is: Meredith and Nathan end up connecting and, after keeping him secret, they begin to leave publicly.

Everything changes at the end of season 13 of “Gray’s Anatomy” when it is revealed that Dr. Megan Hunt (Abigail Spencer), Owen’s sister who served with him and Nathan in Iraq, and was committed to Nathan, is alive, despite being presumed dead after a helicopter accident in the Middle East. After Meredith makes an innovative abdominal wall transplant in Megan, Nathan brings her adoptive son, Farouk (Bardia Seiri), Seattle, and the two revive their romance; Owen and Nathan also invent, since their argument was about Megan in the first place. Meredith, who would do anything to know that Derek is still alive, tells Nathan to be with Megan, and he, Megan and Farouk move to Los Angeles to start a new life.

That is what happens to Nathan Riggs in “Gray’s Anatomy”, more or less. So what was happening behind the scene?

If there is one thing that Ellen Pompeo is No I will do, it is his opinion for herself (for more evidence of this, look what she had to say about her real life argument with Denzel Washington in the “Grey Anatomy” set). In a 2018 function in The Hollywood ReporterPompeo opened on the dramatic departure of Patrick Dempsey season; Apparently, he felt that executives prioritized him on her despite putting the “gray” in “Gray’s Anatomy.” Pompeo even said that at one point he asked for a salary blow to put his salary over Dempsey, “because the program is ‘Gray’s Anatomy’ and I’m Meredith Gray. They wouldn’t give it to me. And I could have moved me away, so why not? Is my program; I am number one.” Finally, Pompeo became the best paid woman on television at that time, winning more than $ 20 million per year as the star of the program and executive producer.

After saying that he had a “pleasant laugh” about peak ratings after Derek’s death, Pompeo revealed that he felt that Martin Henderson’s Dr. Nathan Riggs was an unpleasant addition to the series in principle. “But the truth is that the ink was not even dry in the departure documents (De Dempsey) before they rush a new boy,” Pompeo recalled, said he was on vacation in Sicily and tried to relax when he began receiving messages about possible love interests for Meredith in the next 12th season.

“And they are sending photos,” said Pompeo. “I thought, ‘Are you fucked people? Why do you feel you have to replace this person?’ I couldn’t believe how quickly the study and the network seemed to get a penis there. ” She continued: “We brought Martin Henderson, but they didn’t love history, so that ended.” She is right, frankly; nobody I loved that story. Nathan was a perfectly good character, but the strange need to immediately match Meredith, a mother of three children and a pioneering general surgeon, was just … unpleasant, and his character had the worst part of that frustration. So how did Henderson felt with his departure?

For his absolute credit, Martin Henderson took the exit of Dr. Nathan Riggs with a total step. Both he and Shonda Rhimes spoke exclusively to Deadline In 2017 after Nathan’s final episode, “Danger Zone”, in season 14 … and both said brilliant things on each other and the project.

“I loved that we could give Riggs a happy ending worthy of his character and talent,” Rhimes told The Outlet before clarifying something: “As for Martin, this is not an end to our relationship.” Rhimes and Henderson worked together in one of the rare failures of the showrunner, “inside the box”, so they had a shared story before “Gray’s Anatomy.”

Henderson, on the other hand, told the interviewers Nellie Andreeva and Anthony D’Alessandro who had no voice in Nathan’s departure, but understood it completely. “I only had a short -term contract with the program,” he said. Henderson continued:

“This is my last year, so I expected Nathan’s story to be wrapped. Bring Megan and tying loose ends, he provided a reason. That was always intentional when they brought Megan with a turn. The triangle developed very well, the way they gave perspective before their disappearance, the mutual infide; the way it managed was interesting. show “. “” “

As for that potentially he returned to “Gray’s Anatomy,” Henderson said he felt it was possible for him and Nathan “I would never close the door,” he said frankly. “In my mind, it has left quite open.” After reiterating that he had worked with Rhimes before, Henderson continued: “I think that providing an exit for the character where there is the possibility of always being good. It was always something in the short term, and I was happy to spend a few years doing the program.”

At the time of writing this article, Henderson has not returned to “Gray’s Anatomy”, but the strangest things have definitely happened in that program, so it is not impossible! You can dock “Gray’s Anatomy” in Netflix and Hulu now.