Kyle MacLachlan auditioned to play Grey’s Anatomy’s McDreamy before Patrick Dempsey made the character his own. Looking back, he thinks the role demanded a kind of romantic confidence he struggled to project.
The actor recalls the 2004 audition in Fictional Selves, his memoir published Sept. 29 by Crown. The book explores both the characters he played and the parts that went to someone else.
“I sense they want something more for this guy,” MacLachlan writes, according to Entertainment Weekly. “Something dreamier. And that’s just never been in my comfort zone.”
Derek Shepherd’s appeal was central to the pilot: he wakes up after a one-night stand with Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey, then arrives at the hospital and discovers that their relationship also comes with a professional complication. He is one of her attending surgeons.
MacLachlan Thought the Reading Went Well
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MacLachlan remembers returning to Los Angeles to read for a new ABC hospital drama set in Seattle. He felt he understood Derek and could handle the character, describing the audition itself as having gone reasonably well.
His uncertainty concerned what he called the “requisite smolder appeal.” He believed that quality could exist independently of the dialogue, with an actor’s presence making the character an object of desire for viewers.
MacLachlan writes that he would like to be a heartthrob, but trying to summon that effect makes him self-conscious. He worried that deliberately projecting it would leave him feeling ridiculous rather than convincing.
Dempsey Had to Read With Ellen Pompeo
Casting director Linda Lowy offered her own account of the search for Derek in a 2025 interview with Entertainment Weekly. She said ABC initially wanted Rob Lowe, whom the production was not going to get.
Pompeo already had a deal with the network, and the producers wanted her after meeting with her. Dempsey still had to convince them he belonged opposite her.
Lowy recalled that the network was unsure about him. “He had to read, he had to do a test with Ellen,” she said.
Dempsey ultimately played Derek as a series regular through Season 11, with the McDreamy nickname becoming closely associated with him throughout that run.
Orson Hodge Gave MacLachlan a Different Kind of Leading Man
In 2006, MacLachlan joined another ABC drama, Desperate Housewives, as Orson Hodge. The polished dentist became involved with Bree Van de Kamp, with secrets and manipulation complicating his respectable appearance.
MacLachlan draws a comparison between the two roles in his memoir. He writes that believing himself as a malicious character, even an exaggerated one, comes more easily than attempting the smoldering romantic lead.
His joke about the alternative is pointed: the “friendly new neighbor who maybe murdered his wife” sounds much more like his territory.
He enjoyed Desperate Housewives enough to ask creator Marc Cherry whether his stay could be extended, MacLachlan told Slant in August 2020. The writers adjusted the storyline, and he remained involved with the series for six years.
MacLachlan said he liked watching a character develop through different situations over time. The work also offered practical benefits: he appreciated the consistency of a continuing job while balancing family responsibilities.
He Has Become More Comfortable Working in an Ensemble
In a Sept. 29 interview with GQ, MacLachlan said he feels more comfortable collaborating within an ensemble than being the person out front. He noted that even Twin Peaks, with his Agent Dale Cooper at its center, depended on a broader cast.
He also left open the possibility of carrying another show. After spending the past decade enjoying the process of building characters, he said he was beginning to feel more prepared for that responsibility.
“I’m a very late bloomer,” he said.