Chyler Leigh is opening up about one of her biggest Grey’s Anatomy regrets following former costar Eric Dane’s death.
“One thing that I’m really bummed about … was that when [my character] Lexie comes back [in season 17] … we were filming during COVID, actual COVID, and I was filming Supergirl in Vancouver,” Leigh, 44, told TV Insider in an interview shared via Instagram on Sunday, May 31. “I couldn’t go down to be there because I would have had to quarantine two weeks coming back into Vancouver, and we did not have the time for that.”
After leaving Grey’s Anatomy in 2011, Leigh returned to her role as Dr. Lexie Grey — the younger half-sister of Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) — in a dream sequence cameo during season 17 in 2020. Dane’s character, Dr. Mark Sloan, was also in the scene despite not being in the same filming location as Leigh, who filmed her parts alone with a green screen in Vancouver to avoid the need to quarantine.
“If there’s anything that I regret, it would be not having been able to do that [scene] with Dane [in person],” Leigh shared.
Lexie and Mark, whose on-off romance began in season 5, were both involved in a tragic plane crash at the end of season 8. Lexie died in the crash, while Mark later succumbed to his injuries in the season 9 premiere.
Though Leigh missed the opportunity to reunite with Dane in 2020, she still had fond memories of working closely with the Euphoria star.
“There’s one scene where Lexie is kind of choosing between [Jesse Williams’ Jackson Avery] and Mark, and he comes in, and he just gives her this moment where you see Jackson in the background, and she really does have to choose,” Leigh recalled in her interview. “I don’t know what it is about kissing, but it was a really deep moment. And you just kind of see the sparkle leave her eyes, you know? That was so up and down.”
She added of Dane, “I could pick a million [memories]. He was a wonderful human being.”
Dane died at age 53 on February 19 following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Leigh reacted to the actor’s death in a statement to E! News at the time.
“The last 48 hours have been devastating,” she said. “I never thought I would be using the term ‘had or was,’ but here we are. And I hate it. Eric had a heart of gold. His humor and, especially, his laugh was infectious. He was a deeply intelligent man who could carry a philosophical conversation for hours even while we were on set. He was an amazing father and loved his girls FIERCELY. Incredibly passionate about his work and the causes he kept close to his heart.”
Leigh concluded, “The Universe is undoubtedly holding Eric now, just as I will continue to do within my heart forever.”
Last month, Leigh admitted that she “didn’t know how to comprehend” Dane’s death.
“All of a sudden, it just hit. I had to keep getting up and going to use the lavatory because I was just sobbing,” Leigh said on the May 14 episode of the “You Might Know Her” podcast. “I didn’t know it was going to hit me that hard and especially that fast. It was definitely a grief, and now when I see the reels [of his past work], it’s not like I’m over it, but I’m able to see past the absolute devastation of it and be able to appreciate even more so those incredible moments that we had together.”
