The past is about to rear its ugly head for Amelia Shepherd tonight on Grey’s Anatomy Season 11 Episode 7. 

Fans of Private Practice will remember the amazing, emotional storyline with Amelia’s drug addiction and the death of her fiancé from an overdose. When that piece of her history comes to light in Seattle, it makes things very complicated professionally at the hospital ... but also personally with her brother, Derek.

I talked with Caterina Scorsone earlier this week and she told me about revisiting this moving storyline, as well as how we’ll see it play out in tonight’s episode. Let’s see what she had to say...

TV Fanatic: It sounds like Amelia’s past is going to come back and bite her in the ass a little bit.

Caterina Scorsone: Yes, someone comes to the hospital and basically outs her publicly to everyone about really delicate stuff that happened to her in her past and her struggle with addiction. That’s bad for Amelia but it’s kind of good for us as viewers because a lot of the Grey’s audience watched Private Practice but for those who didn’t watch Private Practice there’s this really rich back story with Amelia that we finally get to with this episode.

TVF: I remember talking to you when those episodes of Private Practice were airing but do you think Amelia thought all this was truly in the past and it blind sides her or has it been more present that we, or she, realizes.

CS: I think her hope is that she didn’t have to address it with everyone. Her addiction and the tragedy that she suffered during her using and after she was using are with her all the time and informs a lot of her decisions. She’s always one choice away from falling victim to her addiction again so that’s always with her. I think she left her relationship, she moved to Seattle to help Meredith and Derek and I think part of trying to heal that pain and leave that part of her behind her and start fresh and here it is rearing its ugly head. Wherever you go, there you are I think that’s a hard lesson she’s learning in this episode and she really will have to face all that again in a new context and deal with hit.

TVF: From the promos it looks like Derek and Amelia get to get in each other’s faces and yell at each other. How was that shooting with Patrick Dempsey?

CS: This is a really, really interesting episode for that relationship. I think Amelia has always held her brother up and he’s always been on this pedestal to her. She doesn’t have a Dad because their father was killed when they were young and Derek kind of filled that role to some extent so she’s always really looked up to him. She was always the black sheep screw-up in the family and he was this awesome, untouchable, virtuous guy. After she’s exposed, she relies on him to come to her aid and he kind of falters. I think it’s really a shock to Amelia and I think it’s a shock to Derek as well and it really shakes up the core dynamic of their relationship.

TVF: And nobody can get you like your family and I’m guessing that’s what we’ll see.

CS: Yeah, I think you show your best and your worst with the people that you’re closest to and that relationship between Derek and Amelia is close for so many reasons. They seem like polar opposites in some ways and he’s really cool and she’s really hot but they both went into neurosurgery. I think the immediate thing that linked them was they were the only two in this huge family who were there and witnessed the murder of their father in front of them so they share that really early traumatic experience and he was shot in the head and they both became neurosurgeons after that.

TVF: Is there a chance that Owen will be pulled into that conflict? I know I’d love to see you in some scenes with Kevin McKidd.

CS: He does get pulled into it awkwardly. He’s the head of surgery so his decisions will end up informing what happens between Derek and Amelia and profession for her and like a lot of people he never heard about her addiction so they’re trying to untangle what is hearsay and what is true and he has to make some tough decisions about what to do in terms of the head of neuro position that she and Derek have been battling for.

TVF:  Do we get flashbacks to the story on Private Practice or how do we get informed into what happened in the past?

CS: They’re informed by other parties and then there’s a lot of gossip in this episode in terms of he said, she said and what’s the real story and everyone is speculating about Amelia. They hear one version of something and she hasn’t really explained her situation yet so there’s a lot of speculation of what really happened so you hear bits and pieces.

TVF: Since it sounds like Derek isn’t really there for her, who does she lean on? Does she have anyone?

CS: She really is lucky to have Richard Weber but what’s neat is they’re both in AA together and he divulged to Amelia and the whole group about being the father of Maggie and Amelia was able to be there for him and now when she’s in this situation he’s the person she goes to at the hospital. She also has a nice scene with Meredith and they have some big sister bonding time.

TVF:  And, personally, how is Mom life?

CS:  She’s two and a half and it’s amazing. It’s totally life changing and it kind of slows things down in terms of being about town but it’s hilarious every day. There’s a lot of joy.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 11 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC. 

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.