Lexie’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Return Had a Very Surprising Filming Secret

Grey’s Anatomy pulled a fast one on fans with last night’s emotional twist, having not only Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) show up on Meredith’s (Elle Pompeo) mind beach but also Mark Sloan (Eric Dane). Fans were absolutely verklempt at the sight of one of Grey’s most beloved couples getting something of a bittersweet happy ending in the afterlife. Dane spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his brief return to the medical drama, and he spilled the beans about the technological wizardry that was required to pull it off during the pandemic.

Unfortunately, Leigh was filming the final season of her show Supergirl in Vancouver and was unable to leave due to COVID travel restrictions, so her part in the episode was filmed in Canada and added via green screen, Dane confirmed. He also explained that the plan was always for their characters to return for the same episode. “It feels like I never left,” said about returning to set. “It was very comfortable and very easy, and it was so nice to see a lot of the same faces with the crew. It’s a role that always fit for me, like one of those great old T-shirts. And it was just like putting the T-shirt back on and hanging out on a beach for a couple days, and catching up with some old friends.”

Dane also addressed how Grey’s implied that the couple found their happy ending in a tragic way. “Absolutely. I mean, the line Meredith asks is, ‘So you guys are together.’ And I say, ‘I guess on your beach, we are.’ But I think Mark would have found Lexie no matter what,” Dane admitted. “Whether it would have been on Meredith’s beach or Lexie’s beach, or anybody’s beach, I think Mark would have found her.”

“I think it all came full circle. The one question I think that everybody was left with was, obviously, Mark Sloan saying goodbye to Lexie and she said, ‘We’re meant to be.’ And then Mark passes on, and we don’t know what that meant. And now we know, Mark and Lexie are together in their parallel universe,” Dane continued. “I always felt like there was closure. I’ve always trusted these writers and what they were doing as far as the overall story and the character’s departures. They’ve always handled that really well. I guess the only people that weren’t provided with closure was the audience. And I hope that this can do that for them.”

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