In 2012, the same year that Eric Dane’s final episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” aired, it was announced that he had been cast as the lead of a thriller series, titled “The Last Ship,” from executive producer Michael Bay. The series, which follows a U.S. Navy crew who must navigate a post-apocalyptic society following a deadly global pandemic, ended up running for five seasons on TNT and concluded in 2018. Five seasons is a more than solid run, so many would say that Dane made the right choice leaving “Grey’s Anatomy” for “The Last Ship.” And, at the time, the actor certainly found it to be the right choice for his career. Plus, after “The Last Ship” ended, Dane was able to take the role of Cal Jacobs on the wildly popular HBO series “Euphoria,” another role that wouldn’t have been possible if he stuck around on “Grey’s Anatomy.”
In 2013, Dane told Entertainment Weekly, “‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is a world — it’s not about any one individual actor and the storylines were sort of…you know, heading in different directions. So it was an opportunity for me to go and I was interested in something different. I loved doing ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ I would have done it until the final episode, but this was something I couldn’t pass up.”
One of the differences between the roles that he was drawn to is that “The Last Ship” called for more physical action. Dane continued, “It’s a physical challenge. On ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ I didn’t have to move too much. I think I ran through the hospital three times. But this is a more physically demanding role.”
