'Grey's Anatomy,' Patrick Dempsey Will Not Return To Former Surgeon Status [Spoiler Details]

Patrick Dempsey's character on "Grey's Anatomy," Dr. Derek Shepard, faced a severe arm injury on last season's finale due to a place crash he experienced with his fellow Seattle Grace doctors. The cliff-hanger left viewers wondering what will become of the show's acclaimed surgeon and if he will ever be a fully-operational OR life-saver again.

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Season nine of "Grey's Anatomy" airs on Thursday, Sept. 27, and the show's executive producer, Shonda Rhimes, revealed to TV Guide that all might not be well for Shepard in the start of the new season.

"Any of the people we saw injured are not going to be A-OK when we come back, that's not what we're doing. What's interesting for me is we really planned the idea that we're going to watch what happens to a doctor who can temporarily no longer perform surgery," she said. "When Burke injured his hand, it was very much about keeping it a secret. It's not about that. This is really, very clearly who you blame when your hand is injured like this. And what do you do and how do you overcome this? Derek is being pretty heroic about it, which is interesting."

Many believed that Dempsey would leave the show or perhaps get killed off, since the actor was rumored to express his desire to move on to bigger roles and more movies rather than stay on television. However, Rhimes confirmed that Derek will be back and experience some difficulties with his ability to work as a surgeon.

A clip from the premiere shows Derek telling fellow attendee Callie that he is ready to go back in the operation room, however, Dempsey revealed, according to TV Line, "The first couple of episodes, he's trying to perform surgery, and it's not working, so he has to make an adjustment."

Also, Sara Ramirez came out saying that her character (Callie) "absolutely puts pressure on herself" to help Derek and figure out a way for him to be the former surgeon he was last season.

Season nine of "Grey's Anatomy" airs at 9/8c on ABC.