- 6/18/2025
'Good American Family' star Ellen Pompeo sat down with THR's Jackie Strause for a discussion about the Hulu series in a THR Q&A powered by Vision Media.
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00:00Hi, welcome to THR Presents. I'm Jackie Strauss here with Ellen Pompeo chatting about Good
00:10American Family. Hi, Ellen. How are you? Hi, Jackie. I'm well. It's nice to see you.
00:16You too. So, you know, you have been chatting about Good American Family for a while now
00:23because everyone wants to talk to you about this role and about this big change up for
00:27you. And I know you have said that if you were going to do something different from Grey's,
00:32you really wanted it to be different and something you could disappear into. And you also said
00:37that that opportunity didn't come along that often, which I think would surprise your fans
00:43and certainly people outside of the industry to hear that. What made Good American Family
00:49such an intriguing role to come to you, given that you had been kind of looking for something
00:54that would fit that bill? I was looking for a big swing. This is certainly it. It's a character
01:00so different from Meredith Grey and so different from me. So I thought, and you know, everybody says
01:07do things that scare you. And this was definitely scary. It's challenging subject matter. There's a lot
01:14of different ways you could mess this up producerially, you know, and tell the wrong story and tell the
01:21stories the wrong way. And so, um, you know, it's definitely on the more dangerous side of content as
01:29far as trying to make it. What really did scare you? And, and was it an exciting scare or just kind
01:37of a, Oh, I don't know if I should do this scare. Well, it's, you know, it's playing someone who's a
01:41child abuser. Um, and so, you know, I think the fact that I'm, I have children of my own and
01:49social media and the media and the images we see being what they are. I think I was afraid
01:55for my kids to see any clips of that. Um, and then, and then also what does it take emotionally
02:05to have to find that? And, uh, and did I want to sort of feel that and live in that space? And
02:13I've been asked the question, like, you know, was this character hard to let go of when I finished?
02:18And I was, Oh no, no. I was one foot out the door the last day of filming. I was so happy to let it go.
02:25That's really interesting. I, especially when you started to research her considering so much
02:33has been out there, there was a docu-series, of course, there's news headlines of what really
02:38happened. Did you find yourself over immersing yourself given the content and kind of some of
02:44the things you just said, did you have to like pull back in order to play her? I wouldn't say,
02:50I wouldn't say over immersion. I would say more, um, that in order for me to justify her behavior,
03:01I, she really needs to believe that she's the victim. She really, really has to believe that
03:08she has been wronged and that she's justified in everything she's doing. And the reason why she's
03:13justified is because she's actually the one who's been wronged. So that was the mindset for me to stay
03:21in. And as this, it's a narcissistic mindset and we see a lot of that lately. So there's plenty of
03:29examples of it, um, to use for references. Uh, you know, it's, it's the, the narcissism really,
03:36there's this victim villain thing where they can be the biggest villain and they see themselves as a
03:41victim always. And I think that's a really good hook to play a narcissist is just to constantly
03:47focus on what everybody is doing to you. And that's how I navigated, uh, believing and justifying
03:57every choice that Christine Barnett made or my version of Christine Barnett made.
04:02Well, the big twist of the show is that we, there's a huge shift of perspective halfway through.
04:08And so in your early conversations, when you were talking about the role and first getting the
04:13scripts, did you understand, was that the format of the show from the start? Was that always going
04:18in as we're going to portray Christine's point of view, and then we're going to flip it on its head
04:22and everyone is going to have a very different story that they're watching.
04:27Yes. And that, I mean, I think that was the reason to make the show because, you know,
04:31the logical question is why make this show? Why tell this story again? We've seen it. It's been told.
04:39The interesting thing, and Katie Robbins says this often is the interesting thing about this story
04:44and the reason to make this show is no matter whose version of the events you watch or listen to
04:50or read, you sort of come away or Katie and I and Mark, we all had sort of a similar experience,
04:57which is we would read one thing and say, oh, this is definitely what happened. And then you read
05:02a conflicting story to that. And you're like, oh, wait, that sounds like that was what happened.
05:08And depending on what you read or heard or saw, you believe something different and everybody has
05:16their own opinion. So I think that's what's interesting about this story and the way Katie
05:21chose to tell it is how you and I can both watch the same thing happen and have a completely different
05:26takeaway of what we just watched. And that's a very interesting thing about human nature and how we
05:34see things, how we perceive things, what our own biases are, is another really strong thing that
05:42we wanted to hit, which is everybody sort of rushes to judgment. A lot of people rush to judgment
05:49about Natalia. And because she looks different and has different abilities
05:55and doesn't have a typical, what we consider to be a typical
06:02body size, then of course
06:07she's the other, she's the one who's different, so she must be the bad one.
06:11Meanwhile, she's a child, you know, and so
06:14you'd think that people would say she was a child and she's been
06:19mistreated and that would cause you, if it were a typical child
06:22and she was mistreated and behaved badly, people may have
06:27more empathy. But is it because of her physical
06:31disabilities or difference of abilities
06:34to give some diversity to those terms?
06:40You know, is it
06:41our perception of her that we assume that she's
06:44bad because she looks different than a typical child?
06:48And I think that's an interesting thing to do
06:50is ask the audience to question, why do we believe what we believe?
06:54Are we, are we biased?
06:56Do we have prejudices that we don't know exist?
06:59I mean, they call it unconscious bias for a reason.
07:02I think we all hold ideals and biases that we don't, maybe not
07:05so aware of.
07:09Because of everything you just said, finding the right
07:12Natalia was also very key to the show working.
07:15And I have seen you talk about when you and Imogen Faith Reed first met,
07:20you were on Zoom for hours.
07:21Do you remember what really clicked between you two in terms of how you each
07:26viewed the characters and what you wanted to portray?
07:30I knew, well, well, hearing, first of all, Imogen's, you know, her demeanor,
07:36she was so easy to talk to.
07:38She wasn't nervous at all.
07:40And, you know, a girl, a young woman that age, you know, typically a lot of,
07:44if they've grown up with Grace and they've watched me a long time,
07:48they're sort of really excited to talk to me and get kind of nervous,
07:51which is completely understandable.
07:53And she was just so self-possessed and cool and could carry a conversation
07:57and wasn't distracted and knew exactly, you know, why she was there.
08:02And to explain very succinctly what it was about this,
08:06her version of this story that, why it was important for her to tell.
08:10You know, she doesn't have a lot of opportunities to play lead roles.
08:15And this was an amazing opportunity.
08:18And for her to get a real part that she could sink her teeth in.
08:22She's been on sets plenty.
08:24She's done a lot of background stand-in stuff,
08:26but doesn't have a lot of opportunities to get like lead speaking roles.
08:31And she was so excited to do this, so excited for the challenge,
08:34and really was very,
08:36had a lot of conviction about telling a story for her community.
08:41This is such, as you mentioned, serious topic, serious material you guys are diving into
08:47that, I guess, particularly for her was probably more challenging in the beginning
08:51and maybe more challenging for you towards the end.
08:53But given your experience of years on Grey's as a producer
08:57and years of being able to advocate yourself
09:00and really show other women in the industry how to advocate for yourself,
09:03what did you, I guess, take from your Grey's producer hat
09:08that you kind of brought over to set when it came to
09:10also being an executive producer here, in addition to starring?
09:14I think that, you know, the biggest thing I've learned is to listen.
09:23You know, I think when we, especially on Grey's and being on Grey's for so long
09:29and knowing it so well and knowing how it runs so well,
09:33there's a lot to say and there's a lot of opinions that I have
09:36and a lot of ideas and a lot of things.
09:39But I've learned over the years, I think I've become a much better listener.
09:42And I really just see my role as how can I help and do you even want my help?
09:52Because I've had to learn that lesson too,
09:55that just because I want to help doesn't mean someone wants my help.
10:00So I think I've become a good listener.
10:04And I just sort of, I'm here if you need me and I'm gone if you don't.
10:08But, you know, so I think that's, I try to be supportive, but not overstep in any way.
10:18When it came to the discussions you all were having about how to promote the show
10:23or how to market the show, I am interested to hear some of those behind the scenes conversations
10:27because you could have gone a couple of ways.
10:30You could have really tipped the audience off or you could have really held it back.
10:35And you guys did this dance of, you know, in pre-interviews,
10:38you guys were saying there will be a shift, but we didn't know exactly what it was.
10:42Was that a difficult thing to figure out?
10:45And did you particularly push for anything in terms of how you wanted to present the show?
10:50What I pushed for with respect to marketing and the press was I just really wanted to be mindful
10:59of what the subject matter is.
11:01You know, we're talking about neurodivergent kids.
11:05We're talking about kids with disabilities or that are atypical.
11:10We're talking about child abuse.
11:11We're talking about mental health.
11:13So I had said to the marketing team and the PR teams, we have to be really mindful.
11:18We're not going to do any silly press, you know, and there were a couple of,
11:22there was a day when we had to do like some Hulu content and the social media ladies were there.
11:29And I said, you know, we can't really do TikToks like that.
11:32I understand you girls are just trying to do your job,
11:35but you have to understand you haven't seen the show yet.
11:38We cannot do these fun sort of poppy TikToks as much as you want to.
11:43We really need to be mindful.
11:44So this content could be triggering for people, the subject matter.
11:49There's so many people who have difficult relationships with their mothers.
11:52There's so many reasons to be triggered by this.
11:56So I was, I was really, really involved in very particular about, you know,
12:04what kind of press we should do and, and, and how we talk about the show.
12:08Of course we have to be careful because, you know, it's, they're sort of, you know,
12:13there's real people involved here.
12:15So, and then the other thing that I think was important was just, you know,
12:26that I feel, you know,
12:28my fans have stuck with me for so long and they've been so loyal.
12:31And I think that's literally a pot of gold to have loyal fans.
12:35I mean, people, you know, the attention spans, myself included, of, of a gnat.
12:42Like for people to stick with me for 21 years on a show,
12:46and we're playing the same character in the same show over and over and over,
12:49and to stick with all of us that are on that show.
12:51I just feel so dead into the fans because they've given me an incredible run on
12:56Grey's. And so I wanted this show to really,
13:00I didn't want to disappoint them.
13:02And so the element of surprise for me to not reveal what the show is about and
13:07to not tell them that we were going to flip it.
13:09Like I wanted to entertain, you know, the socks off them.
13:14I owe them that they've been so loyal to me and I really didn't want to
13:18disappoint.
13:19So I thought a nice twist would, you know, is kind of what I owe the fans.
13:25Coming from the twisty, turny show on television, of course,
13:29we should have expected it.
13:31Sean O'Lynn's icon is a roller coaster.
13:34Right. We really should have expected it.
13:36But I think that a lot of fans were definitely taken aback,
13:41enlightened or, and certainly questioning themselves.
13:43And I have seen you talk about how you found yourself judging your character at
13:49one point and had to kind of step back.
13:51And I imagine that was particularly towards the end and maybe in the final
13:55episode.
13:56I also want to quote you as summing up Christine in the end,
14:00she's either fully committed or fully full of shit.
14:03And I thought that was a great quote from you.
14:05And now that you've had some space from it and I don't know if you've watched it
14:10yet.
14:10I don't know if you typically are always watching all the episodes that you do.
14:14I've seen you talk a little bit about that.
14:15I have not watched the first episode because we did a big,
14:21like at the premiere, we did a big screening with a whole audience.
14:25So I was sort of trapped there in between that I love.
14:30So I had to watch the first one, but I haven't seen any of the other episodes.
14:33It's just not, I don't know.
14:35It's just not, I don't need to hear myself more or see myself more.
14:40There's enough of me everywhere.
14:42Well, having filmed it and having thought about it,
14:47I'm curious where you've landed on her.
14:50And I guess what is some of the acting tricks that you went through in order to
14:56separate yourself?
14:57So you weren't judging her while you were playing her while the cameras were on.
15:01I think the answer to that is sort of how I started the conversation by saying
15:05like, just, I really think narcissists completely believe they're on bullshit.
15:10Like it's, it's, you can't even think about anyone else long enough to, to ask what your,
15:19the only way a narcissist can think of other people is how they're hurting them.
15:23You know, I did a deep dive on all the forms of narcissism.
15:27I read a lot about the different, the different fractions of narcissism.
15:32And I think that that's just, everything has to circle back to you.
15:38And so you can only relate to people in the way that they're affecting you in your life.
15:44So there, there isn't even any thought given to your own behavior because they're just so
15:50focused on, look, what you made me do.
15:52I didn't do this.
15:54You made me do it.
15:55So that mindset is, uh, was super helpful for me.
16:01I know for this show, you did not reach out to the people you were portraying.
16:07I'm curious, have you heard any sort of a response?
16:10This is, um, even Natalia, I was almost, I, you know, she was very vocal when the docuseries
16:15was airing, but we haven't really publicly heard from her, but have you gotten any murmurings
16:19on the back end?
16:21I haven't, I haven't heard anything.
16:24That's so interesting.
16:25Did you have any questions that if you did have Christine or Natalia in a room, you would
16:30have liked to ask or are still thinking about?
16:33I don't, I don't think so really, because the truth is, is I, I do think that, you know,
16:44when things are happening in the moment and emotions are super high, again, I think that
16:49I think people are, you know, also super reactive.
16:55And I think, I think recollections vary, you know, I've been watching this, um, Karen Reed
17:01trial on, on, on court TV.
17:04And, uh, it's interesting because it just is like, you say things in the moment, but then
17:11your recollection is different.
17:13And there's so much sort of trauma response when, when things are happening to make you
17:22react.
17:23It's like, how much is a trauma response?
17:26How much is how you would normally respond?
17:29You know, I think that we're all informed by our casts, our past experiences, and we're
17:37all informed by our childhood, which is another, you know, really amazing piece about this show.
17:43What I love is that we touch on how everybody got there, you know, and, and, and everybody
17:49seems hell bent on doing better than their parents did with them.
17:53But yet somehow that doesn't happen.
17:57They are no better than their parents and people have a tendency to judge their parents
18:01and criticize their parents for things they did, but it's, you know, it's, it's harder
18:07to walk a mile in their shoes.
18:10And, and I, and I, and I liked that, you know, also the idea of that, that we're all very,
18:15very informed by our childhoods in our past experience, even if it isn't our childhood,
18:20if it's, if we go into a relationship and we've had a couple of bad relationships or
18:24abusive relationships, one thing that, you know, a new relationship does might trigger
18:31you and they didn't intend for you to receive it that way at all, but because of your past
18:37trauma, you receive it in a certain way and you react in a certain way.
18:41And then that person is going to get defensive.
18:43And how could you think I did that?
18:46And it's just, our past informs our present so much.
18:52I think that's an interesting thing to play as an actor.
18:55The, all of this required that viewers stuck with the show to the end.
19:01They would have obviously had a very different opinion if they stopped at episode three or
19:04four and would seen, you know, everything you're describing in a very different light.
19:09As a producer, I'm sure you get feedback from Hulu.
19:12You know, we know it's a rating success.
19:14So maybe you have a little bit more data and you get to see that people really stuck with
19:18the show.
19:19But when you also see this social media conversation and like you described really surprising people
19:24who, as they hit that point in the show, how, I guess, how did that make you feel that
19:29people were not only watching, but really engaging with the story you guys were telling?
19:34Oh, it's just like, thank God.
19:37I mean, you know, if my first thing after Grace was, you know, a total dump, it was, you
19:45know, it would have been pretty embarrassing.
19:48But, you know, listen, it happens.
19:49Like, it's really hard to make a show.
19:51It's really hard to make a, you know, content.
19:53And listen, this show is not perfect.
19:55You know, there's, if we had a drink over dinner, I'd tell you a million things that,
20:00you know, went wrong with it and shots I didn't like or, you know, whatever.
20:05It's hard to make, it's hard to make a show.
20:07It's hard to make a streaming show on a network schedule.
20:10There's a lot of things about this, you know, it was interesting to me to work on a streaming
20:15show and see that it's the same pace and schedule as a network show, but yet it's meant to be
20:20much slower and more creative.
20:23So that was a whole piece.
20:25So, you know, and you, you just don't ever know in this business what you're going to
20:30get, what the end result will be, how people will receive it.
20:33You can think it's great.
20:35The timing might be off.
20:36You don't know what's going on in the world.
20:38So anytime you have anything that's remotely successful in what we do, it's just a huge
20:42blessing and a win.
20:43And I was just so relieved.
20:45I was so relieved that, you know, that as many people watched it, I think even Hulu
20:50was surprised.
20:50I think they expected it to do well.
20:53I don't think they expected it to do as well as it did.
20:56Again, thank you to the fans.
20:58My fans are amazing.
21:00And Mark has great fans too.
21:02And Imogen is just such a lovely person.
21:04So, and she's done a great job with her Instagram and her TikTok.
21:08She's really fantastic because she's of that age.
21:11So she gets it.
21:12And I think he's been so warm and gracious on that platform.
21:17So, you know, just super grateful because there's just no, you know, just because people
21:23love me as Meredith Gray and love me on Grays, it doesn't guarantee me anything moving forward.
21:27It doesn't guarantee that they'll follow me, doesn't guarantee that they'll like me or
21:32believe me in any other character as anything else.
21:35And the fact that I was shown so much support is pretty meaningful for me.
21:40Typically when there's a rating success and there is runway to continue telling a story like here,
21:48they're coming to you, knocking down your door, asking about a season two.
21:51Have any of those conversations started?
21:54I know Christine's story may be over, but Natalia's definitely has a lot of time left.
22:00Yeah. I mean, those conversations started happening weeks ago, like, you know, a couple of days after episode eight dropped.
22:08I couldn't actually believe how fast it happened.
22:11But yes, and we're, you know, there's two ideas.
22:15I think, you know, right now is yes, Christine Barnett's story is over or my version of Christine Barnett's story is over.
22:22And I think what we're trying to decipher is, is there a good enough reason to continue on with this story or do we pivot and do an anthology and do another story next season?
22:36And I'm not going to tell you the story that we're thinking about, but it's awesome.
22:40And that's what I really want to do.
22:42I want to do an anthology because I'm, I think that the story that we have lined up is so good for specifically for the way we do this show and switch perspectives, you know, so, so that's, that's my choice is to do an anthology.
23:01So, you know, we'll have, we have a couple more meetings about it.
23:07And ultimately, I guess it's, it's up to Hulu who pays the bills.
23:10Um, and an anthology could give you room to play a new character, presumably, right?
23:16I don't think I would be the lead in that show because I don't think I'm right for that character.
23:24So it would be more as a producer.
23:27Katie and I, uh, who wrote Good American Family, we're also, uh, we, we, we sold another idea.
23:33So, uh, to Hulu.
23:35So we're, we're developing that as well.
23:38So we've got a few different things that were bubbling.
23:42That's very exciting.
23:43I remember at the very beginning, Katie talked about how your casting was so key because they needed someone as beloved as you.
23:51So I think when you think of Ellen Pompeo, you think of beloved.
23:54Now we think of villain and beloved.
23:57So would you, you have succeeded in disappearing into your roles and that are more doors opening for you even since the show?
24:04Definitely. Um, yes. And I'm very grateful and we are gonna, I'm just going to take my time and, and really, you know, just see which of the development, the stuff in development comes to the surface first and which one I'm feeling the best about.
24:24What, what, what excites me the most about the character? It's really just gotta be about the character. So, so we'll see.
24:32And with Graze, I understand each year you sit down with your showrunner, Meg Marinus, and you kind of go over schedules and you figure out when we'll be seeing Meredith Gray.
24:42It seems we'll be seeing more of her yet. You're talking about more developmental projects. And I know you wanted to spend more time with your family.
24:49So how are you looking at balancing your acting, your producing, your family time? And will, and will we still see you as much on Graze?
24:57I'm, you won't see me as much. Of course. Um, I do. I'm so lucky, um, that I'm in the position that I am with Graze that they let me do. I do seven episodes. Um, and I really just do a few days.
25:11I do a few days an episode and I only do seven episodes. So it's, I give Graze, like, I think it's probably, I don't know, maybe 20, 25 days or 30 days a season. Um, it's like, it's three days an episode. Well, it's three days an episode and I do seven episodes.
25:34So it's roughly three or four days an episode and I do seven episodes. So I guess like 20 days, 25 days. Um, and I, they, they, they typically, they do like me to do the beginning, the middle and the end so that I've never gone for too long.
25:53So that's the only challenging piece to navigate is, but again, it's not that challenging because I, I do, you know, a few days in the beginning and then a few days in the, you know, in November. And then I do a few days, few more days in March.
26:09So it's never really that, that bad. I feel like six days in September, you know, six days in November and six days in March for the finale. It's, it's, it's pretty easy and make it all work. Well, this was quite a cliffhanger finale. So we'll be very excited. We know that we know Meredith is alive, so we know she's returning. We don't know who else is alive. That was a big cliffhanger.
26:35But before I let you go, you know, we are talking about the success of the show and it's also in contention for the Emmys. And I did want to ask you how it would feel to be recognized by the industry, by the peers, if the show were nominated and recognized.
26:50Wow. You know, it would definitely feel great at this stage. You know, I I've said before, and I, and I, and I really meant it that, that on grace, you know, you really sort of only get an opportunity to be nominated for things in your first few seasons.
27:07And so that time had clearly passed. And I, I didn't crave that kind of recognition. I, I craved the sort of financial and job security situation more than I did critical accolades. That's why I stayed on the show because, you know, you know, you're on a show season 10, you're never getting nominated for anything except the people's choice, which I've been so lucky to get a bunch of those.
27:32Um, but so, so, so had I been a sort of critic, a critically acclaimed, you know, chasing that I wouldn't have stayed on grace for so long. So it wasn't always the most important thing to me, but now that I'm doing something new, I think that it would, it would definitely probably help me, um, sort of in this new chapter of, of this next chapter of my story, you know, moving on from grace,
28:01doing other roles, doing other roles. I think it's okay to like want a little trophy now.
28:07I think so too. I think so too. Thank you so much. I hope you get that trophy and thank you for joining us with THR presents. Goodbye.
28:17Bye.
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