‘Good American Family’: Exclusive Look Inside Ellen Pompeo’s New Drama

Everybody loves a good American family, right? Wrong—especially if you are the Barnetts in the true-crime Hulu mini-series aptly titled Good American Family. But why exactly are they struggling as a family, and who is Natalia Grace? Below, we reveal everything you need to know about the show, including details on the cast, release date and the real-life horror story that inspired the plot. Read on for more, and be sure to check out a special sneak peek clip featuring stars Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass below. 

'Good American Family' episode 1 sneak peek

What is 'Good American Family' about? 

Good American Family follows multiple points of view surrounding a girl living withdwarfism named Natalia Grace (Imogen Faith Reid) after she gets adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett (Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass). Soon, things take a violent turn and the family begins to suspect that Natalia isn't as young as she claims, leading to an emotional goodbye and a high-stakes court case that is sure to have viewers on the very edge of their seats. 

"When I was doing this deep dive into the articles, I found the experience of reading these stories so disorienting because, depending on whose account you are reading, it changed your understanding of the story," creator and showrunner Katie Robbins told First for Women . 

"It felt like the way to structure it so that we would come into the landscape of the accused [the Barnetts] and then, at a certain point, switch it so that we would then question all of the things we had understood before. It felt like a way to get at this question of how truth can be such an elusive thing, which felt really timely."

The show is based on the real-life story of a woman named Natalia Grace , who was born in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, and whose real birthday remains a mystery. 

Who stars in 'Good American Family?'

Aside from Pompeo, Duplass and Reid, the Good American Famil y cast also consists of Christina Hendricks, Dulé Hill, Sarayu Blue and Kim Shaw. 

"I got cast about 30 hours before I was on set," Hendricks said recently. "So I received the scripts, fell in love with them all very quickly and watched the Investigation Discovery series [ The Curious Case Of Natalia Grace ] to try and get as much information as possible. I watched interviews online that showed Cynthia's imagery to develop her look. Then I ran over to the set and met with hair and makeup. We found the right wig, went to costumes and started developing all these ideas. 

"I noticed in all the imagery that I'd seen that she only wore skirts, and I thought that was a very important thing that she's obviously decided for herself, and took different kinds of clues. We created Cynthia in that amount of time." 

In Good American Family , Hendricks' character Cynthia Mans is Grace's third adoptive mother, who is still looking after her to this day. 

"We're not necessarily born into the perfect families, and we don't necessarily have the perfect situation," Hendricks told First for Women. "But I think there's a lot of love out there. And if you can create your family and find that love, that's the most important thing." 

When does 'Good American Family' premiere? 

The first two episodes of Good American Family will be available to stream on Hulu on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Following that, the streaming platform will release one episode a week until Wednesday, April 30, 2025. 

There will be a total of eight episodes, and since it's a limited series, there is unlikely to be a Season 2. 

For more FIRST exclusive sneak peeks, keep scrolling!

FIRST's Exclusive First Look at 'Grosse Pointe Garden Society' Episode 4 (EXCLUSIVE)

Jennifer Weiner's New Novel 'The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits' Dazzles: Read an Exclusive Excerpt!

Azita Ghanizada Talks 'Suits L.A.,' Advocacy Work and L.A. Fires: 'I'm Taking in Every Bit' (EXCLUSIVE)