Grey’s Anatomy continues to add some big names to its roster as its 21st season chugs along on the 2025 TV schedule. We’ve already had Floriana Lima and Sophia Bush causing trouble in Owen and Teddy’s marriage, not to mention Lena Waithe as a doctor willing to go to illegal lengths to save her wife. Now, a new troublemaker has been cast — that is, if her character is anything like who she played on Yellowstone. Piper Perabo will recur on the medical drama in upcoming Season 21 episodes.
Piper Perabo has signed on for multiple episodes, Deadline reports, as Jenna Gatlin, who is described as a fierce mother to her 9-year-old daughter, Dylan. Jenna will do anything for her child, who is a candidate for a high-risk surgery.
Just the description of the Yellowstone actress’ new character as “fierce” and the fact that she’s fighting for her daughter’s life makes me think we’re definitely going to see shades of Summer Higgins. However, hopefully, things don’t escalate to the point of the brawl she had with Beth, which ended up being one of Yellowstone’s most brutal moments.
What’s more, not only did Summer get some licks in on Beth Dutton, but she contributed to the tarnishing of John Dutton’s legacy in those final episodes.
There are quite a few doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial whom I’d never cross — Bailey, Meredith, Catherine, Amelia — but even those bad-ass bosses aren’t as ruthless as Kelly Reilly’s Beth, and Summer had no issues confronting her.
However, this is, of course, a new character, so we’ll have to wait and see what kind of attitude she brings to the hospital and its staff.
Jenna Gatlin and Dylan are set to make their Grey’s Anatomy debuts on May 1 in “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.” According to The Futon Critic synopsis, Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) will undertake a high-risk brain surgery on a young patient, so it sounds like that’s where our new characters come in.
Piper Perabo will also appear in the May 8 and 15 episodes — the final two of Season 21. The penultimate episode, “Love You Like a Love Song,” will center around Jo and Link’s wedding, with Teddy and Owen reuniting with a familiar face, and Lucas and Simone disagreeing over a patient’s care.
The season finale, per Deadline, is titled “How Do I Live,” in which an ordinary day takes an unexpected turn when a medical emergency occurs in the operating room, putting the lives of the people inside the hospital in danger.
I’m really hoping Piper Perabo’s character isn’t part of that danger, but I guess we can just be glad no train stations are mentioned in the loglines of these episodes.
Tune in May 1 to see the beginning of the Coyote Ugly star’s run on Grey’s Anatomy, and until then, you can continue to catch new episodes at 10 p.m. ET on Thursdays on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription. The first 20 seasons are also among the best shows to binge on Netflix if you want to relive any of the wildest medical cases of the past 20 years.
