Ellen Pompeo Reveals New Look At First New Character Post Grey’s Anatomy

Meredith Grey has been a staple of network television for nineteen years. Now, Ellen Pompeo is stepping out of Grey-Sloan and into her first new role since 2005.

Good American Family is a new limited series coming to Hulu on March 19. Based on a true story, it follows the adoption of Natalia Grace (Imogen Faith Reid) by a Midwestern couple, Kristine (Ellen Pompeo) and Michael Barnett (Mark Duplass).

The Real-Life American Family

This true story shocked the nation back in 2019. The Barnett’s, who already have three sons, decide to adopt a nine-year-old girl from Ukraine. Natalia has spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a rare form of dwarfism.

As time goes on, the Barnetts grow skeptical of their adoptive daughter. Going so far as to believe that Natalia is twenty-two, not nine. Kristine and Michael become paranoid, convinced that their new daughter is a danger to their family.

In real life, the Barnetts were so steadfast in their beliefs that they eventually changed Natalia’s birth certificate to state she was twenty-two and then abandoned her two years later. The Barnetts moved their family to Canada and left Natalia to fend for herself in an apartment in Indiana.

When their abandonment of Natalia was discovered, Kristine and Michael were later charged with neglect of a dependent.

Further DNA testing and the location of Natalia’s birth mother in Ukraine helped support her original date of birth, September 4, 2003. The charges against Kristine were dropped, and Michael was acquitted.

Natalia appeared on an episode of Dr. Phil and was the subject of a documentary series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace.

As the story unfolds, the series perspective begins solely with the parents’ perspective but alternates between them and Natalia as the story goes on.

Pompeo also serves as an executive producer for the series. She excitedly talked to Vanity Fair about the opportunities and challenges of her first new role in twenty years. Although she never reached out to the honest Kristine Barnett, she did research the feelings and experiences of parents with autistic children, which Kristine was to her son.

All three seasons of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace are now available on MAX.

The first two episodes of Good American Family will be available to stream on Hulu on March 19.