Patrick Dempsey hijacks Ellen Pompeo red carpet interview

It looks like Patrick Dempsey has found his new career path as a reporter!

On Friday, Sept. 9, Ellen Pompeo was in the process of being interviewed by Yahoo Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy on the red carpet at the D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center.

However, the interview was quickly derailed by none other than Pompeo’s former “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star, Dempsey.

In video shared on Polowy’s Twitter, Pompeo is in the middle of answering a question as the correspondent holds his microphone out to the actor. Just seconds into the clip, Dempsey — sporting a new blond look — seizes the moment and grabs Polowy's microphone before he started to interview his former co-star himself.

“Hi everybody, I’m on the red carpet with Yahoo interviewing the legendary Ellen Pompeo,” Dempsey said, turning to the camera. “Ellen, what does it feel like to be a legend?”

She replied, “Well, I thought we were already legends, but I’m really happy we are officially legends now.”

“It’s been confirmed today, so thank you for that,” he added, referring to the fact that he and Pompeo were officially named Disney Legends for their "extraordinary contributions" to the studio, according to Deadline.

After exchanging a few jokes, Dempsey tried to get serious again by asking Pompeo about her upcoming untitled Hulu limited series. Unfortunately, it only took a few seconds for the duo to start cracking jokes again.

“I’ll tell you what I’m not doing is singing and dancing,” Pompeo said, to which Dempsey responded, “I know, I’m not either but I should be. I’m working on my Vegas show, we’re going to announce that soon.”

After the conversation derailed once again, the actor declared he had one last question for Pompeo during the impromptu interview. Dempsey, who will star in the upcoming "Enchanted" sequel "Disenchanted," asked the actor, “How is the new season? A lot of new faces on there. Are you going to do 30 seasons?”

“No, I’m not going to do 30 seasons, I’m going to do eight episodes,” she said as she laughed, referring to the upcoming 19th season of the ABC medical drama. “There’s someone missing from the show…I can’t think of who it is…somebody is missing from the show that was a big part of the show and it’s not the same without that person…”

Dempsey portrayed the character Derek Shepherd for 11 seasons until his exit in 2015. However, the actor returned for an episode in November 2020 in a surprise appearance, several seasons after his character died.

At the end of the interview, Dempsey seemed proud of himself, declaring to Pompeo and the camera, “Thank you, this is my new job. This is my red carpet…let’s see who’s next!”

Pompeo and Dempsey’s characters were married on “Grey’s Anatomy,” but there was reported tension behind the scenes for the on-screen couple. In December 2018, Pompeo appeared on Red Table Talk where she was asked, “Are you and Patrick Dempsey still friends?”

“We haven’t spoken since he’s left the show,” she said. “I have no hard feelings toward him. He’s a wonderful actor and we made the best TV you can make together. That’s a talented man right there. And he did 11 amazing years.”

She added, “Typically when people leave the show, they need to sort of refine themselves—who they are without the show—because the show takes up so much of your life. You need that time to figure out who you are without the show, so we have not spoken but I will always have a place in my heart for Patrick.”

Just three years later though, Dempsey appeared on Pompeo’s podcast “Tell Me” in September 2021 for a nostalgia-filled episode. She reflected on her experience working on “Grey’s Anatomy,” explaining that she “learned so much from the experience” as well as her relationships with different cast members.

“(Those) have been some of the best life lessons I’ve ever had in my life,” she said. “And because of the concentrated intensity of the experience, all of it, it really has been a blessing in so many ways because you start to look at the good, the bad and the ugly. We’re here to refine ourselves and to improve, and it was really something that we all kind of lived through together, this amazing journey.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com