Grey's Anatomy fans (myself included) were surprised when Ellen Pompeo announced she would be "leaving" the show back in 2023. In reality, she's been on the show since -- just in a semi-recurring role rather than appearing in most episodes. It makes sense that seeing Meredith Grey in other projects might throw some people off, jokingly or otherwise.
Pompeo rose to popularity along with the ABC medical drama in 2005, and was very rarely seen in much else as an actor. She has, to date, appeared in 438 episodes of Grey's over 20 years. When you see her face, or hear her voice -- even if you're not an avid watcher of the show or haven't been for quite some time -- you think of Meredith Grey. And when Meredith Grey shows up in a trailer for a new TV series that isn't Grey's Anatomy, you have to admit that's a little unsettling ... at first.
Now that the official trailer for Hulu's Good American Family has dropped, longtime Grey's fans are making all the jokes. Pompeo stars in the limited true crime drama series as Kristine Barnett, one half of a couple who adopts a little girl who might not be who she says she is.
I'm not the biggest fan of true crime, but it's rare to see Pompeo outside of Grey-Sloan Memorial and I've always secretly wanted her to do more than a medical drama (no matter how much I might love them). So I'll certainly be watching, though it might take a few minutes to get used to Meredith Grey, well, not being Meredith Grey.
I suppose that's what happens when you play the same character, and almost exclusively that character, for almost two decades. It's not all that wild for Pompeo to want to step back from Grey's to work on other projects. The limited series premieres on March 19, and let's all hope it does well so that we can joke about Meredith Grey narrating other trailers.