Jamie-Lynn Sigler will play a doctor with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Grey's Anatomy

According to Deadline, the role was created especially for the former Sopranos star, and the plot will see Dr. Kaplan visit at the request of Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) to offer Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) a unique perspective on his case.

The outlet reported it was important to both Jamie and producers to depict a character who "is not defined by their affliction and has a full life and a career."

In 2020, Jamie-Lynn shared how she has embraced the "positive" side of having MS, which affects the central nervous system, disrupting the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body.

Speaking on 'People Now', she said: "I have my bad days, as we all do.

"For me it was about fighting it and keeping it a secret and covering it up, then when I became public it was accepting people knew and now it's shifted into this thing where...

"I think people don't realise with chronic illness, it's so much physical stuff but emotionally it can affect you even more.

"I'm realising all the things it has brought me, the positive things it had brought to me, who it has made me today I know I wouldn't be without it.

"Do I still wish I didn't have MS? Sure. But it's my thing in this lifetime and I'm dealing with it as best I can."

In 2020, she and friend Christina Applegate - who also has MS - launched the MeSsy podcast, in which they discuss the realities of their lives living with the condition.

She said at the time: "It's not about the specific experience we're having. It's us facing something hard, and it's about figuring out how to still push through.

"I've never been more...nervous isn't the word, but like a good anxious about any project I've ever put out more than this, because I care so deeply about it. We are sharing the deepest parts of ourselves."