For the past 13 years, every Thursday night TV watchers have laughed, cried and cheered with their favorite characters on Grey's Anatomy.
Although there has been significant changes to the cast in the last 15 seasons, one of the most beloved characters will always be Dr. Derek Sheperd.
Played by Patrick Dempsey, Derek met his tragic end in season 11, after a semi-truck crashed into him.
But before Dr. McDreamy left our television screens forever, he entertained us with numerous story lines, such as becoming the Chief of Surgery, a victim of the hospital shooting, and working on the president's brain mapping initiative.
However, the most intriguing plot of them all was his relationship with the titular Meredith Grey.
A significant portion of the series depicted the trials and tribulations Meredith and Derek's relationship, starting from drunkenly hooking up at a bar all the way to raising three children together.
While their romance is arguably one of the show's best love stories, one Grey's writer has admitted that had the medical drama premiere today, the iconic couple wouldn't be together at all.
"It is an ongoing conversation in the writers room."
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, writer Krista Vernoff, who has recently made her directorial debut on the show, revealed Meredith and Derek wouldn't have dated in today's #MeToo era.
"If you look at, for example, Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd through the lens of Time's Up and #MeToo, he was her boss, she was an intern, and she kept saying, 'No, walk away from me,' and he kept pursuing her, and that is probably not a story we would tell on the show today, and it's a beautiful reflection of the changing times," she said.
But Vernoff's admission doesn't mean plot lines of a subordinate fraternizing with their boss will be kaput.
"This season, we're doing a little bit of a reversal as we begin to build this love triangle that's emerging with Deluca as one the people in that triangle, and he is a resident and Meredith is an attending, and we're having to address it differently than we ever would have before," she explained.
"We're having to talk about and look at power dynamics. It is an ongoing conversation in the writers room. How do we tell that story in a way that feels honest and romantic and sexy and yet proactive and progressive?"
Vernoff said that throughout its run, Grey's has been a show championing women and has given its production staff the space to openly share their stories related to the Times Up movement.
"As all of Hollywood has been sort of reckoning with the changing rules and the changing tides, I have felt a personal responsibility to live into that, whatever that means," Vernoff said.
"I've had a lot of conversations with my own writers' room about safety and wanting to be a safe place, and if anyone has anything they want to come and talk about, I'm here and I'll help them figure it out."
"I just feel like we all went along to get along for a really long time and now that's done, and we're saying, 'Hey, there's a better way.'"
[H/T: Los Angeles Times]