"Grey's Anatomy" lead star Ellen Pompeo recently revealed that she was offended by fans who assumed that the ABC series would not survive without Derek Shepherd.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pompeo said that a lot of the fans think her character Meredith Grey needs a man in order to survive. However, they believe that "Scandal" lead character Olivia Pope and "How to Get Away With Murder" lead character Annalise Keating could survive on their own.
"Let's keep it really real for a second and say this is really difficult for my ego. It's okay! We all have one!" she said.
Meanwhile, executive producer Shonda Rhimes also reminded fans of the conversation Meredith had with Cristina Yang in the past, according to US Weekly.
In that particular scene, Cristina reminded Meredith that Derek is not her "sun." This means that although she was madly in love with him, Meredith could still survive without Derek.
Rhimes added that Meredith has always known that she can survive without Derek. However, she just does not want to live without him.
In other news, the upcoming "Grey's Anatomy" season 12 will see a lot of hook-ups and changes. These twists are being rumored to have been included to prove to fans that the series will still be successful even though Derek is no longer around.
"Grey's Anatomy" season 12 will also introduce some new characters and their roles in the series will be revealed in full in the upcoming episodes.
"Grey's Anatomy" season 12 will premiere on ABC on Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. ET.