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Eric Dane is returning to television to play a character with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, months after he revealed his own battle with the neurodegenerative disease. Dane, 52, announced his diagnosis in April, about a year after he said he first experienced symptoms. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, slowly paralyzes patients by destroying nerve cells responsible for muscle movement. There is no known cure. Best known for playing beloved character Dr. Mark Sloan in ABC’s hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, Dane has continued to work on new projects following his diagnosis, including a newly announced guest starring role. The Euphoria actor will appear on the NBC show Brilliant Minds, in an episode set to air November 24. Dane will play Matthew, a firefighter struggling to share his ALS diagnosis with his family. Matthew will process the news with the help of Dr. Oliver Wolf, the series’ lead played by Zachary Quinto. Pictures taken on the set of the episode show Quinto and Dane acting opposite each other. Shortly after he announced his diagnosis, Dane spoke about wanting to continue acting as he battles the disease. “At the end of the day, just, all I want to do is spend time with my family and work a little bit if I can,” Dane told Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America in June. “I don’t think this is the end of my story. I just don’t feel like, in my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end of me.” During his interview with Sawyer, Dane also revealed that his right side was no longer functioning and that he expected to lose control of his left hand. Still, he went on to film season three of Euphoria, which he appears in as Cal Jacobs, the dad of Jacob Elordi’s character Nate Jacobs. The new season is set to air in 2026. Earlier this summer, Dane also starred in Amazon Prime Video’s new show, Countdown. However, he was forced to skip out on the Grey’s Anatomy reunion at this year’s Emmy Awards following a fall that left him hospitalized. He said the “nasty disease” caused him to lose his balance in the kitchen. “So I was in the hospital during the Emmys getting stitches put in my head,” he told the Washington Post at the time. “I missed an opportunity I was really looking forward to,” he continued, lamenting over missing the September ceremony. “It would have been great to see Jesse and get reunited with some of my peers, and to be able to present in front of my colleagues, I thought, would have been a special moment. So I was really upset about it, but you know, there was nothing I could do about it.”
