Jeffrey Dean Morgan begged Shonda Rhimes not to kill off his 'Grey's Anatomy' character

Grey's Anatomy's currently airing 17th season has been very nostalgic with the returns of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), George O'Malley (T.R. Knight), Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) and Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), as they've each visited Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) from the beyond on her "in-between" beach while she remains unconscious and on a ventilator due to COVID-19. 

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who portrayed charming cardiac patient Denny Duquette in 23 episodes from 2006-09, indirectly participated in the parade of beloved ex-characters during his appearance on Hot Ones this week.

About midway through the interview, host Sean Evans asked the 54-year-old actor how he has learned about the impending death for several of his characters throughout his career. "'Cause I died a lot," Morgan said, "and that was a running joke with my father—still is—he's like, 'You've died 127 times.'"

Morgan explained that when he used to audition, he "generally knew" the character was going to die. 

He especially expanded on the experience with Grey's: "Grey's Anatomy I knew was something special. That's the one time that I saw my death coming and was trying everything I could do to get out of that death. That character, Denny, and that love story with Izzie (Katherine Heigl) kind of took the world by storm. I knew how f—king lucky I was to be there, and I was like, 'Please don't kill me.' I did, I begged (show creator Shonda Rhimes)."

He continued: "That's what changed my life. Being Denny, where I never got out of bed, is why Zack Snyder hired me to be the Comedian (in 2009 film Watchmen), so that's how special that was."