Hulu has ordered a pilot for Chicks, a family dramedy that gives Ellen Pompeo a new starring vehicle while she stays attached to Grey’s Anatomy. The project, from 20th Television, puts Pompeo in front of the camera and behind the scenes as an executive producer.
For readers searching Ellen Pompeo next tv role, this is the answer: Chicks is the next step. The pilot centers on Chickie and Doreen, two estranged half-sisters trying to get by in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of old Boston when their wise guy dad dies and leaves them a legacy of two-bit crime that pushes them into increasingly audacious frauds.
The role matters because it marks a fresh lead for Pompeo at a moment when she is still one of television’s most recognizable figures. She is best known as Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy, which is heading into its 23rd season on ABC, and she continues to recur on the drama, narrate it and serve as an executive producer. She also remains an executive producer on the show’s upcoming spinoff set in West Texas, due in midseason 2027.
Chicks was built from an original idea by Katie Robbins, who developed it specifically for Pompeo. Robbins will executive produce alongside Pompeo and Laura Holstein, giving the pilot a small creative circle around a role that seems designed to fit Pompeo’s range beyond Grey’s Anatomy. Hulu has not yet committed to a series, but the pilot is eyeing a September start of production in New York.
That is the catch. Pompeo is taking on a new Hulu project while still carrying multiple Grey’s Anatomy obligations, and the overlap is part of what makes the move notable. She already worked with Hulu through Good American Family, whose finale became the streamer’s third most-watched of all time, and the new pilot tests whether another Pompeo-led project can make the jump from a contained setup to a full series run.
If Hulu likes what it sees in New York this fall, Chicks could become Pompeo’s clearest new television identity outside Meredith Grey. If it does not, the pilot still answers the immediate question: her next TV role is already in motion, and it is built to stand on its own.
