Rob Lowe says he wants to play 'McDreamy in the metaverse' if he ever gets a chance to be on 'Grey's Anatomy'

• Rob Lowe said if given the chance he'd play "McDreamy in the metaverse" on "Grey's Anatomy." 
• The actor said he loves working on his Fox show "9-1-1: Lone Star" because "the action is real." 
• Lowe famously turned down the role of Dr. Derek Shepherd in the early 2000s.

Rob Lowe has made it no secret that in the early 2000s, he turned down the role of Dr. Derek Shepherd on "Grey's Anatomy" to star on the short-lived CBS medical drama "Dr. Vegas." 

While he's said in the past that he's glad that the role went to Patrick Dempsey because the right opportunities come to actors in their own time, he told Insider during an interview in partnership with Atkins in February that if given the chance to do a guest spot on "Grey's" now, he knows exactly who he'd play. 

"They should do a time-travel episode," he said. "I should play the alternative universe McDreamy." Or, thinking strictly about the future, "McDreamy in the metaverse."

Of course, Lowe is happily starring in his own franchise show at the moment, the Fox hit "9-1-1: Lone Star," where he's doing daring stunts more often than making out with colleagues in elevators — and he likes it that way. 

"That's one of the things that keeps me excited, is of any given day on that show I could be doing something so spectacularly difficult or weird or physically demanding," he said of filming "Lone Star."

"I mean, yesterday I was in a zipped hazmat suited for 12 hours," Lowe continued, possibly referring to Monday's episode, titled "Prince Albert in a Can."

Lowe plays captain Owen Strand on the drama, which is about firefighters and EMTs working in Austin, Texas. So, he's often working with fire, and said, "if something goes wrong, it's an issue." 

That precarious element, "keeps you on your toes" he said. But it also keeps the show authentic because "the action is real." 

Lowe's career has spanned decades in part because he values honesty on and off-screen. He's recently been open about his alcoholism and choice to live a sober lifestyle for about 19 years. 

The actor told Insider he rolls his eyes about some aspects of Hollywood culture, but "one of the good things about the culture of Hollywood is sobriety and recovery has a very strong community here." 

"And that's one of the things that helped me get into recovery in the first place, was so many of my heroes were getting sober, and that's true today," he said. 

"9-1-1: Lone Star" airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.