Eric Dane is opening up about being written off Gray’s Anatomy after six seasons of taking part in Dr. Mark Sloan, aka McSteamy, on the hit ABC collection. (Spoilers forward!)

The actor’s position was launched on the finish of season two as a visitor star. He grew to become a daily character in season three after he acquired constructive suggestions for his preliminary look. Over the course of the next seasons, Sloan grew to become a fan-favorite character, however after a airplane crash within the season eight finale, it was revealed he would succumb to his accidents, dying firstly of season 9.

Dane returned to the present briefly in season 17 when Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) was in a COVID-induced coma and was visited on an imaginary seaside by Sloan, sister Lexie Gray (Chyler Leigh), husband Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) and Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti).

The Euphoria actor stopped by Dax Shepard’s Armchair Podcast earlier this week, the place he revealed that he didn’t precisely select to go away Gray’s Anatomy when he was written off.

“I feel I used to be let go,” he informed the host, explaining that he was combating habit on the time. “They didn’t let me go due to that, though it undoubtedly didn’t assist. I used to be beginning to change into, as most of those actors who’ve spent important time on a present, you begin to change into very costly for the community. And the community is aware of that the present goes to do what it’s going to do regardless of who they carry on it. So long as they’ve their Gray, they’re superb.”

He continued, “I wasn’t the identical man they’d employed. So I had understood after I was let go. And Shonda [Rhimes] was actually nice. She protected us fiercely. She protected us publicly. She protected us privately. … However I used to be in all probability fired. It wasn’t ceremoniously like, ‘You’re fired,’ it was similar to, ‘You’re not coming again.’”

Throughout the peak of his fame whereas on Gray‘s, Dane checked himself into rehab for an habit to painkillers and has struggled with melancholy over time. He shared that when he joined the present, he had been sober for 3 or 4 years, so he was capable of distinguish between what was actuality and what wasn’t, however general, he doesn’t suppose he dealt with the celebrity that got here with it very effectively.

“In case you take the entire eight years on Gray’s Anatomy, I used to be fucked up longer than I used to be sober. And that’s when issues began going sideways for me,” he revealed, including that the sudden recognition might have performed an element in why he relapsed. “It was overwhelming, and I feel I simply wished to fake that it wasn’t and that I used to be snug with it. Act such as you’ve been there, however you haven’t been there.”

Dane presently portrays Cal Jacobs on Euphoria, the daddy of Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi), and one of many present’s few grownup characters.