Ellen Pompeo is best known for her iconic role of Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy. Though after 20 years of playing the character, she's ready to be seen in a new light. And she hopes to do so in a new drama series, Good American Family.
Two of the best dramas on television right now are Grey's Anatomy and Apple TV+'s The Morning Show. I love Mark Duplass from the series, and so it's great that he and Pompeo will be playing onscreen husband and wife in the upcoming show. It's a very intriguing series based on a true story. And lots of us definitely like those. Here's 3 things to know about the Hulu series ahead of its release that have us excited to tune in!
Good American Family is coming in March
Good American Family premieres Wednesday, March 19, 2025 with the first two episodes on Hulu. After that, one new installment will be released each week. There's a total of 8 episodes to look forward to.
The intriguing limited series is is centered around Kristine (Pompeo) and Michael Barnett (Duplass) who have three biological children and decide to adopt a young Ukrainian girl, Natalia Grace (Imogen Faith Reid). If you've watched the movie Orphan, this is sort of a real-life version of that. At least according to Kristine and Michael.
Natalia has dwarfism, and the parents claimed she was actually an adult pretending to be a child. And they said their lives and family were in danger with her around. The couple even went as far as legally changing Natalia's age. Eventually, they leave to Canada with their three sons and leave Natalia behind. Though both Kristine and Michael were charged with neglect, their charges were eventually acquitted and dismissed.
Playing Kristine Barnett was tough for Ellen Pompeo
Getting into this sort of headspace and emotion is no easy feat, and Pompeo shared with Vanity Fair that was definitely the case for her. While filming, there were days when the actress "was very agitated" on set due to "having to step into that emotion."
She notes because she has kids of her own, it was difficult to tap into those emotions of figuring out how her character would turn on their daughter that way. And then eventually leave her behind as well. All the while, Natalia has a disability. It was an intense story for her to take on. Though of course we all know how talented Pompeo is, and I already know she's going to play this character so well.
Taking on this role was very important to the actress as well because it's her first role after Grey's Anatomy and portraying Meredith Grey for 20 years. That's definitely not a short amount of time! And the talent felt the pressure to prove that she can be someone else on television.
"You’ve always been looking for something to show a completely different color than what you’ve been showing people for 20 years and this is it,” Pompeo's agent told her, according to Vanity Fair. “So I said, ‘Okay, well, let’s dig in.’"
Don't expect this to be a documentary
The news outlet shares that though Good American Family is based on a true story and real-life events, don't expect the show to be a documentary where the tale sticks to exactly what did or didn't happen. It is a series that's based on these events, but they do have creative freedom to change it up how they see fit. And that's what creator and writer Katie Robbins did.
Something else you can expect to see that I think is a really nice touch is that the point of view will switch between Kristine and Michael's perspective, and Natalia's as well, per a press release. Look, even with all the facts out there right now, it's impossible to know what really happened in the home and with this family.
So if the series has decided to take some creative liberties, I don't mind it at all. As long as it's something thought-provoking and interesting to us as viewers, I don't think any of us will complain. This show is definitely one I'm adding to my watch-list!
Good American Family premieres Wednesday, March 19, 2025 with the first two episodes on Hulu.