'Grey's Anatomy': How Eric Dane's Departure Will Be Portrayed, New 'Man Whore'

"Grey's Anatomy" will be looking very different in Season 9 with the departures of Eric Dane, Chyler Leigh and Kim Raver, and Shonda Rhimes gave Entertainment Weekly some details on what to expect at Seattle Grace when the series returns to ABC this fall.

Though Dane is slated to return for two episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" Season 9, Rhimes said his appearance is not necessarily indicative of his fate on the show, especially after she shed light on how the first couple episodes will be formatted.

"When we start the season, we are ahead enough in time where we see the outcome of lots of things. And in the second episode of the season, there's rewind -- we go backwards -- to where they’re still in the forest,” Rhimes told EW. "So you see what happened and in the next episode, you see how we get there."

Though Rhimes told TVLine that she wishes Dane "the best," she also said she’s planning on using his exit as an opportunity to give Justin Chambers (Alex Karev) and Jesse Williams (Jackson Avery) new sexy positions on the show. "The loss of 'McSteamy' is going to leave a giant hole in our world in terms of -- for lack of a better phrase -- man whore-ness. I've told [Chambers and Williams] that we need some leading men here. We need to add to that pool, and they’re going to step up,” she explained. “There’s some room for some men at the hospital to spread their wings. We haven’t seen that in a while.”

For more on "Grey's Anatomy" Season 9, click over to EW.

"Grey's Anatomy" returns on Thurs., Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. ET. Find out more ABC premiere dates here.