Spoilers ahead for Grey’s Anatomy Season 22’s “Strip That Down,” which aired January 29. The episode can be streamed with a Hulu subscription.
Ever since it was announced that Kate Walsh was returning to Grey’s Anatomy, fans like myself hoped that would mean more shared screen time between ex-sisters-in-law Addison Montgomery and Caterina Scorsone’s Amelia Shepherd. We got our wish when “Strip That Down” aired on the 2026 TV schedule, and now Walsh is opening up about getting that “very intimate” reunion with her former Private Practice co-star.
With Caterina Scorsone having been a series regular on Grey’s Anatomy since 2014, it’s easy to forget that Amelia was first introduced as Derek Shepherd’s sister on the Kate Walsh-led spinoff Private Practice. Fans have not been shy about how much they love Addison and Amelia’s scenes together and the way the actresses convey their characters’ deep history. (Even a casual mention of Private Practice gets us in a tizzy.) Walsh recognized the familiarity she and Scorsone have formed, telling Variety:
She and I always just jive so well and have great chemistry. She does feel like family to me. I just love going back. I put on my little scrubs or a fabulous pair of shoes and clothes, as the scene requires, and I’m Addison again. So it was really comforting, in a way. I kind of felt like a homing pigeon being called in, or like a spy coming in from the cold. I’m always happy to go work with her and everyone on the show, but it was really special to have just scenes with her in a way. It was very intimate.
Indeed, Amelia didn’t have to share Addison with very many people in “Strip That Down,” as McDreamy’s ex-wife returned to Seattle to bring Amelia out of her sabbatical to help one of her patients. Addison ended up confiding in the neurosurgeon that her husband Jake (played on Private Practice by Benjamin Bratt) was considering leaving her. Kate Walsh explained:
Amelia and Addison are always confidants, and Addison’s always obviously been there for Amelia, historically, whenever she’s in trouble — whether it’s with her addiction struggles or what have you — in the past. And I was like, ‘Yeah, but I think it would be cool to see Addison kind of messed up from everything that’s happening in the world, and how it’s affecting her.’
When Addison last appeared on Grey’s Anatomy, Miranda Bailey set her up with a mobile clinic for women, and the world-renowned OB/GYN hit the road to help women living in states that limited their options for medical treatment. Kate Walsh thought it would be interesting to explore what such a lifestyle would realistically mean, which allowed for a spin on Addison and Amelia’s typical dynamic. She continued:
I was like, ‘I want to see some kind of wear and tear on her, or some kind of stress.’ We hadn’t really seen Addison vulnerable in a while, like freaking out. So I thought that might be a little more interesting, a bit of a role reversal, and I think you see that in this episode.
Things definitely got tense, as Addison let her personal struggles seep into the operating room and Amelia was forced to kick her out. Afterward, however, they talked it out, and while this was only a one-off guest appearance from Kate Walsh, I can’t help but hope that movement in Addison’s life might be the first step toward that Private Practice revival that Shonda Rhimes has talked about.
For now, though, catch the current cast of doctors — including Amelia — when new episodes of Grey's Anatomy resume at 10 p.m. ET Thursday, February 28, on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.
