Grey’s Anatomy fans were dealt a pretty big shock in the Season 19 premiere, when one of the incoming interns turned out to be the nephew of none other than Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd. While much of the attention surrounding the rookie surgeon with the famous bloodline has centered around his “will they, won’t they” situation with Alexis Floyd’s Simone Griffith, there’s a different relationship Niko Terho wants his character to learn more about. The actor said he’s excited to get more into the dynamics between Lucas and his aunt Amelia Shepherd, and I could not be more excited at this prospect.
We learned in the earlier years of Grey’s Anatomy that Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) had four sisters, and while we don’t yet know which sister is Lucas Adams’ mother, we do know that Lucas and his aunt Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) share some “black sheep” qualities in the Shepherd family. We’ve also seen Amelia come down pretty hard on her nephew, though she seems to have a soft spot for him at the same time. It’s an interesting dynamic, and Niko Terho told The Wrap he’d love for the show to dive deeper into that, saying:
We’ve gotten to see moments with him and his aunt, and I would love to explore more of that relationship. It’s something we don’t see very often depicted on TV, different from a friend relationship or a mother-son relationship… I think it’ll be very interesting to do that.
The actor makes a good point that the aunt/nephew relationship isn’t one that’s as commonly explored on TV, and especially given how invested Grey’s Anatomy fans have always been with the Shepherd family, this is definitely a relationship we want more of.
In the early episodes of Season 19, it looked like the show was going to play up Amelia and Lucas’ dynamic, given that weird plotline where the intern chose to awkwardly hide his identity and allow his friends to believe he and Amelia were hooking up rather than reveal his familial ties and face allegations of nepotism. Thank goodness that ruse didn’t last long, but since then the interactions between the two haven’t been as plentiful.
Hopefully that will change now that Season 20 is underway. You simply can’t introduce a new Shepherd and then not make his ties to Amelia (and Meredith Grey and Addison Montgomery) a big part of the story.
Lucas’ current circumstances seem to be the perfect opportunity to get back on track, too. The March 28 episode “Walk on the Ocean” showed tensions coming to a head with both of his housemates, Simone and Mika Yasuda (Midori Francis). When Simone went to Lucas’ room later that night to talk things out, she found that all of his stuff was gone. We don’t yet know where he went, but it’s possible he’s staying with Amelia, since she had offered up her couch in the early days before he landed at Meredith’s house.
I’m so thrilled to hear that Niko Terho wants to see more of the relationship between Lucas and Amelia, because the McDreamy connection is an important part of the new character’s identity, and I’m certain I’m not the only longtime Grey’s Anatomy fan to feel that way. We’ll have to see what happens, as new episodes air at 9 p.m. ET Thursdays on ABC and can be streamed the next day with a Hulu subscription. Be sure to check out our 2024 TV schedule for all the upcoming premiere dates.
