Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 is expanding its cast with The Sopranos alum Jamie-Lynn Sigler. According to a new report, the actress, who is battling multiple sclerosis, will guest-star in an episode that will air in January 2026.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler joins Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 cast as doctor with MS
Jamie-Lynn Sigler has joined the cast of Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 as Dr. Laura Kaplan, Deadline reported. The character will debut in Season 22, Episode 8, “Heavy on Me,” which will release on January 15, 2026, one week after the series returns from its mid-season break on January 8.
In the episode, Kaplan, a urologist suffering from multiple sclerosis, will visit Grey Sloan on Catherine Fox’s request. She will meet James Pickens Jr.’s Richard Webber, who was diagnosed with cancer. Richard and Kaplan will then discuss the former’s cancer diagnosis, and the latter will offer her unique insight into it.
The series creators created the role for The Sopranos star, who has been suffering from MS for over two decades. However, Kaplan is “not defined by their affliction and has a full life and a career,” as per Deadline. This is an aspect of the character’s story that Sigler and the producers found important.
Notably, in a 2023 interview with People, Sigler shared that she was living “a very full life” despite struggling with the disease. Moreover, in the same interview, she said MS gave her the “superpower” of “vulnerability.”
Jamie-Lynn Sigler was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 2000s at the age of 20, after an initial Lyme disease misdiagnosis. However, she hid her diagnosis and battle with the disease for many years before opening up about it in 2016. She opened up about the disease in an interview with People. Sigler admitted that even though she lived with the disease for many years, it was “hard to accept” it.
