Shonda Rhimes names the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ death that hurt the most

Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital’s intrepid doctors have suffered shootings, drownings, plane crashes, car crashes, disappearances, deaths by hiccups, and much, much more. But Grey’s Anatomy creator Short Rhes says one character’s death stands out.

Asked which hurt the most, the prolific writer and producer took just a beat to respond, “Probably George’s.” Rhimes told Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper during a lengthy interview on Monday’s episode, in which she named her personal series highs and lows.

The death of T.R. Knight‘s George O’Malley during the series’ season 6 premiere indeed shocked fans, which Rhimes attributed to the fact that Knight’s “character is so beloved, and T.R. is such a lovely guy. That was such a hard thing to do.”

The first shock came when, during season 5, the meek and good-natured George announced to his fellow doctors that he intended to leave the then-named Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital and enlist in the Army to fight in the Iraq War. Before friends like Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) can convince him to stay, they’re blindsided when a disfigured John Doe rushed into emergency who’s clinging to life is revealed as George.

Knight’s character officially died on the first episode of season 6, though did reprise his role in a dream sequence in season 17.

“T.R. was so amazing because he didn’t need to lay on that table,” Rhimes recalled, “but he was like, ‘I’m gonna do the role, even though you’re never gonna see my face’… He was wonderful. I mean, it broke me, so I knew that the audience would respond to it, but I really loved it.”

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.

George’s death clearly had an impact on Rhimes, who brought the consequential scene up in a March interview with Entertainment Weeklyreflecting on 20 years of her production company, Shondaland, dominating the TV landscape.

“Nobody knew who George was. Nobody,” Rhimes said, revealing that Knight’s return to close out the character under heavy makeup was kept a tight secret. “I’m not even sure all the cast knew. Because, technically, his character had left to become a soldier, so he was already gone. I know that certain members of the crew knew, and T.R. was determined that he would be the body lying on the operating table. He would be the body that you saw every single time, which is why you got to see his beautiful blue eyes.”

You can watch the rest of Rhimes’ interview on Call Her Daddy above.