Chyler Leigh's biggest 'Grey's Anatomy' regret exposed after death of costar Eric Dane

Chyler Leigh has been living with regret about the casting in Grey’s Anatomy that she has now shared after the death of her co-star Eric Dane.

For those unaware, Leigh played the role of Lexie Grey, the half-sister of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Dane joined the medical drama television series in season two as Dr. Mark Sloan to cause chaos between Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). The series, which streams on Hulu or ABC, has been renewed for the 23rd season.

In her May 31 interview with TV Insider, the 44-year-old American actress and singer recalled her time working with the late actor Dane, who passed away in February of this year.

Lexie and Mark had an on-again, off-again relationship in the series and she shared her feelings for him towards the end of the eighth season, which ran from 2012 to 2013. In the final episode of the season, Mark and Lexie were aboard a plane when it crashed and he told her about his feelings just a few moments before her tragic death. Mark also succumbed to his injuries in the premiere of season nine.

Both Lexie and Mark marked their return in season 17 when Meredith got COVID-19 because she was seeing visions of her loved ones who embraced death on a mysterious beach.

“We were filming all during COVID, actual COVID, and I was filming Supergirl in Vancouver, and I couldn't go down to be there,” she said.

The Brake actress’ work commitments did not allow her to reunite with Pompeo and Dane in California, where Grey’s Anatomy is filmed.

“I would have had to quarantine two weeks coming back into Vancouver, and . . . we did not have the time for that,” Leigh revealed, mentioning that she recorded her scenes using a green screen to avoid delay in the series due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“If there's anything that I regret, it would be not having been able to do that,” she noted.

Chyler Leigh then articulated her thoughts about Dane’s performance in the series, saying, “I could pick a million. I really could. He was a wonderful, wonderful human being.”

It is pertinent to mention that Eric Dane passed away at the age of 53 on February 19, 2026, from respiratory failure related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.