Patrick Dempsey Lands First Post-'Grey's Anatomy' Role in 'Bridget Jones' Movie: Report

Here’s hoping McDreamy loves Bridget Jones just as she is.

Patrick Dempsey is in final negotiations to star in the third installment of the beloved Pride and Prejudice-inspired romcom franchise Bridget Jones’s Diary, according to Deadline Hollywood.

The casting marks Dempsey’s first role since he left Grey’s Anatomy last season when his character, neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd, died in a car wreck after saving people from another crash.

“I want to try something different,” he told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “[But] is Derek so identifiable that I can’t go on and be someone else?”

Colin Firth is set to reprise his role as Mark Darcy, though Hugh Grant‘s Daniel Cleaver won’t be back to chase leading lady Renée Zellweger‘s poor little skirt, according to Deadline.

The site also reports that the film, Bridget Jones’s Baby, won’t follow author Helen Fielding’s latest book, in which (SPOILER ALERT) Darcy dies.

Bridget Jones’s Diary premiered in 2001, and the sequel, Bridget Jones: The End of Reason, hit theaters in 2004.