He said the cast and crew "warned" him that fans were "quote unquote very passionate," but he didn't know the full extent of what that meant. "And then I made the mistake of going over to the Instagram page for 'Grey's Anatomy," he told Barrymore.
He just wanted to "take a peek" at what fans were saying in the comments, but that deep dive turned out differently than he expected. "That was like Shelley Long in 'The Shining' finding Jack Nicholson's writing." Speedman said, describing how he found thousands of "diatribes" against him.
He said "Grey's Anatomy" fans have "their own ideas" about who Meredith should be with.
"Grey's" star Ellen Pompeo personally asked Speedman to play Nick back in season 14, and according to Speedman, the show has been consistently asking him to come back after his memorable one-episode cameo.
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Pompeo told Harper's Bazaar on Thursday that she asked her friend Speedman to play the role because the pair has "great chemistry" on-screen and he's "just so easy" to work with. Together, she said they try to make their scenes a little bit less "on the nose" than viewers might typically see on network TV.
"We try to bring everything a little off-center and make it a little cooler," Pompeo said.
Despite the danger of the Instagram comments section, Speedman told Barrymore he's "having a lot of fun" in his return to the ABC medical drama.
"Grey's Anatomy" airs at 8 p.m. ET on Thursdays on ABC.
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