Shonda Rhimes names the Grey’s Anatomy death that ‘broke’ her - here's all about it

It looks like we know which Grey’s Anatomy death saddened even its creator, Shonda Rhimes: George O'Malley (T.R. Knight). As the twenty-second season looms upon us, creator Rhimes appeared on Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast episode, which was released on Wednesday, October 8, 2025. It seems that the character death that affected Rhimes the most is the same one that fans feel to this day.

T.R. Knight's George O'Malley was introduced back in the first season and continued to be a mainstay of the series until the fifth season. He blindsides the doctors of the then-called Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital with his intention to leave the hospital to serve in the army. The synopsis of the Grey’s Anatomy Season 5 finale, "Now or Never", reads:

"George makes an announcement. Izzie's friends await her recovery from surgery."

What happened in the Grey’s Anatomy Season 5 finale?

One of the most heartbreaking episodes of Grey’s Anatomy aired on May 14, 2009. Titled "Now or Never", the episode sees George announce that he is leaving the hospital and joining the US Army in Iraq. Some time later, an unidentified man. i.e., John Doe is brought to the hospital, who saved a woman and got hit by a bus. The last act of the episode reveals that John Doe is none other than George.

While the season finale ended on a cliffhanger, as we don't know what happened to George as the doctors try to revive him. However, the season 6 premiere, Good Mourning, reveals that George succumbed to his injuries, bringing an end to his tenure in the long-running series. However, Knight briefly returned as George as a part of Meredith Grey's dreams in Grey’s Anatomy Season 17.

Dr. George O'Malley's death affected fans and Shonda Rhimes:

Shonda Rhimes, in her recent appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast revealed touched on a wide range of topics related to the long-running medical soap opera. In this episode, she and Alex Cooper went on to speak about which character's death in the ABC medical drama broke her heart. To this, Rhimes responded that Dr. George O'Malley's death affected her the most:

"T.R. was so amazing because he didn't need to lay on that table. 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."

This is not the first time that Rhimes has broached the subject of George's death between the season 5 finale and season 6 premiere. She discussed the impact of this death in a March 2025 Entertainment Weekly interview:

"Nobody knew who George was. Nobody. 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."

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Re-experience the heartbreaking moment of George's death in the ABC app as you wait for Grey’s Anatomy Season 22.

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