Season 19 of “Grey’s Anatomy” introduced the character of Lucas Adams, a new intern who is actually Derek Shepherd’s nephew. The latter having 4 sisters, the fans did not fail to theorize on the identity of the mother of the young doctor.
Season 19 of Grey’s Anatomy, which is currently airing every Wednesday evening on TF1, introduced a new generation of interns to lend a hand to doctors at Gray Sloan Memorial after the intern program was closed in the season 18 finale. .
And among them is Lucas Adams, played by Niko Terho, who happened to be Derek and Amelia’s nephew. After this surprise revelation, which occurred at the end of the first episode, fans immediately sought to know the identity of the young man’s mother.
As we remember, Derek Shepherd has four sisters: Nancy (Embeth Davidtz), Kathleen (Amy Acker), Liz (Neve Campbell) and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone). Amelia being introduced as Lucas’ aunt upon her arrival at Gray Sloan, so fans were quick to rule out the possibility that she was his mother (although we’re not immune to a surprise turn of events from the from the screenwriters). So there are only three sisters left…
Nancy Shepherd, the most plausible hypothesis?
If they all have several children, all the clues scattered in season 19 suggest that Nancy is the most likely candidate. In episode 3, Lucas confides in Simone that he’s from Connecticut, which is also where Nancy lived when we last saw him in season 15.
The latter is also the oldest sister, which makes the possibility that she has a son in his twenties all the more plausible. And if we look at Nancy’s story in Grey’s Anatomy, this theory could well be confirmed.
She is indeed a gynecologist and obstetrics doctor, and during her first appearance in season 3 she had openly criticized Derek and Meredith’s relationship, and had not hidden her contempt for the young intern.
With these data in mind, it would not be surprising if she were tough on her children so that they would follow in her footsteps in medical school. Additionally, when announcing the arrival of the new characters, Lucas was described as being “determined to prove himself as a surgeon, as many of his family members did before him”.
Liz and Kathleen, still in the running to be Lucas’ mother
Appearing in season 9 after the plane crash, Liz had gone to Gray Sloan Memorial to donate nerves in the hope of helping Derek fix his hand, and thus save his career as a surgeon.
But since this passage the time of two episodes, Neve Campbell has never returned to the series. The actress not really having any news, perhaps she will make an appearance in season 20 of Grey’s Anatomy, which has already been commissioned by ABC. The interpreter of Sidney Prescott in the Scream saga, however, seems to be the least likely hypothesis.
So the final possibility is Kathleen, played by Amy Acker (Angel), who made her one and only appearance in the season 15 episode “Good Shepherd,” in which the sisters were meeting for a very tense dinner.
Kathleen seems to be the cruelest of the siblings, especially when it comes to Amelia and her drug addiction. But as with Liz and Nancy, we don’t know much about her character. Her very judgmental behavior still makes her a good candidate to be Lucas’ mother, with the young intern being described as “the black sheep of the family”.
Of course, these clues, which seem to point to Nancy Shepherd, may very well have been given by the writers in order to send fans on the wrong track. Let’s hope the writers answer that question in Season 20 of Grey’s Anatomy, which isn’t expected to arrive until early 2024 in the United States.
In the meantime, find two episodes of season 19 Grey’s Anatomy every Wednesday evening from 9:10 p.m. on TF1. Seasons 1 to 18 are available in full on Disney+.