Below, all three talk about what it was like to film that monumental, heart-wrenching scene.
So, that’s how I found out.
DAVID KRUMHOLTZ:I had auditioned for it two to three weeks prior to filming it.
NBC
It was in the audition sides, so I knew probably well before her.
I mean, it was pretty brutal.
It’s difficult to imagine his trajectory without it.
MARTIN:The cast found out when they actually read the script.
And me saying, “Nope, turns out nope.
Not going to be all right.”
WYLE:Here’s where I harbor a lot of guilt.
I was not nice all the time to Kellie.
Kellie came on that show and we were like rock stars.
We were like, “Who’s the new kid?”
MARTIN:I always felt very honored to be a part ofER.
WYLE:We worked extremely hard to be the No.
MARTIN:I sure had fun working with Noah, and he challenged me a lot.
WYLE:I remember very early on her being so mad at me because I made this choice.
I was talking to another doctor and she was here asking me a question.
She just started fuming when they called cut.
MARTIN:My sister had passed away a week before I startedER.
So,ERwas all tangled up with a lot of bad time in my life.
WYLE:She was amazing to come into that environment and hold her own.
It was definitely the right thing for me to leave that show at that time.
But, it didn’t feel like it at the time, for sure.
WYLE:Everybody was very respectful of the tenor and the tone of the scene.
MARTIN:The mood was a little somber.
MARTIN:I did keep telling David, “It’s okay.
Don’t feel bad.
It’s your job.”
KRUMHOLTZ:I believe we shot it very quickly.
They didn’t really make a big deal out of it being a big moment on the show.
He didn’t want it to come off fake.
Sometimes, the shadow is far scarier than the monster, and that day, we made good choices.
My character freaks out, but I really kind of went there.
I remember just having total freedom.
WYLE:I toldLauramy idea about sort of having this dawn on me slowly.
So all those things building up together with that soundtrack make it a great sequence.
MARTIN:The most indelible image is me and Noah lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
KRUMHOLTZ:That scene is so heartbreaking.
I mean, horrible.
Really, for the time, certainly pushing the boundaries of what you could show on television.
MARTIN:There was a lot of blood.
In order for it to read on camera, there’s way more than you end up seeing.
So, there was a ton of blood.
It’s very sticky, it’s very unpleasant.
WYLE:I didn’t think it was going to look like that.
It was not fun to be the patient, like at all.
I would take being a doctor any day of the week.
WYLE:It was a well-made episode.
You don’t kill a regular character offat least we didn’t.
MARTIN:I think the person who took it the hardest wasAlex Kingston.
WYLE:We were a really popular show about noble people helping unfortunate people.
I said, “This won’t be good for my mom to watch.”
And he did, and I turned it off, too.
It was just one of those things.
I’m like, “Did that, I don’t really need to watch it again.”
KRUMHOLTZ:I remember after it aired a friend called me and said, “That was great.”
It was scary."
MARTIN:I think it made such an impact because there is no social media back then.
WYLE:Social media was a huge factor.
MARTIN:This was before the internet and spoiler alerts, and all that.
There was nobody taking pictures on set.
I mean, nobody had cell phones.
It’s so weird.
It’s not that long ago.
But nobody was doing that, and I think that there’s something kind of magical about that.
Almost 30 million people tuned in on Thursday night to watchER.
It was appointment television.
KRUMHOLTZ:By that time, those characters had become indelible in people’s mind.
They had become visitors in their home.
MARTIN:It’s definitely a moment in television time that can never be repeated.
It will never be like that, again.
I definitely did not think about how traumatic it would be for people.
WYLE:It was horrible.
I felt horrible for David.
He killed America’s sweetheart, he cut her throat.
Then he stabbed America’s other sweetheart, twice.
KRUMHOLTZ:The impact that had, I could never have assumed it would have.
People were more disturbed than I imagined they would be.
MARTIN:I got a lot of reaction from fans, obviously, completely traumatized, totally blindsided.
WYLE:I felt horrible for David.
He’s like, “Dude, that’s really messed up.”
MARTIN:I definitely don’t harbor any hurt feeling toward David Krumholtz.
He totally did his job and did it very, very well, and he’s such a pro.
KRUMHOLTZ:People now will be like, “Man, that was a really cool career move.”
I’m like, “Dude, I wasn’t making career moves then.
I barely make them now.”
I don’t know, I was really young, I was psyched to get an audition.
WYLE:If anything, I’m really grateful that David played that character the way he did.
That’s what makes it all the more charmingalmost 20 years later, people are still talking about it.
MARTIN:I was 21 or 22.
I remember taking it kind of personally that I was being stabbed and leaving the show.
So, I don’t think I would feel the same way now, being 42.
If it were me now, I would have a lot more fun with it.
I was definitely traumatized by Lucy’s send-off.
