Hulu Greenlights Lorena Bobbitt Series as Second Installment of 'Good American Family' Anthology
Hulu has greenlit a limited series about Lorena Bobbitt as the second installment of its 'Good American Family' anthology, with creator Katie Robbins and executive producer Ellen Pompeo steering the project. Deadline reported the order exclusively on 19 August 2026.
The story is a natural fit for the anthology's format. Season 1 of 'Good American Family' dramatised a controversial adoption case; Season 2 turns to Lorena and John Bobbitt, a Virginia couple whose 1993 case ignited a media circus. That year, Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband John's penis, drove off with it, discarded it and called police, explaining her actions as a response to alleged sustained psychological, physical and sexual abuse. The trial became one of the most covered tabloid stories of the decade.
Pompeo and Robbins began talking about expanding 'Good American Family' into an anthology shortly after the first season's finale aired on 30 April 2025. Lorena Bobbitt emerged quickly as the follow-up subject. By June 2026 the project was heating up for a green light. Now it has one.
The Season 2 logline describes the series as inspired by the Bobbitts' story. Ellen Pompeo executive produces alongside Laura Holstein under their Calamity Jane banner, and Andrew Stearn — an executive producer on the original installment — returns in the same role. Pompeo played the adoptive mother in Season 1 but is not expected to act in the second installment.
This is the second Hulu green light for the Pompeo-Robbins pair in summer 2026. The dramedy 'Chicks', starring Pompeo, received a pilot order in June. Both projects are produced by 20th Television, part of Disney Television Studios, which signed Robbins to an overall deal earlier in the summer and houses Calamity Jane.
Robbins created the Apple TV and A24 dark comedy 'Sunny', starring Rashida Jones, and was a writer-producer on Showtime's 'The Affair'. Pompeo stars in and executive produces ABC's 'Grey's Anatomy', now heading into its 23rd season, and executive produced the spinoff 'Station 19' as well as an upcoming West Texas offshoot premiering in midseason 2027.
The Bobbitt story has been told on screen before. Jordan Peele produced the 2019 Amazon docu-series 'Lorena', which featured interviews with both Lorena and John Bobbitt. In 2020, Lifetime aired 'I Was Lorena Bobbitt', narrated and executive produced by Lorena Bobbitt herself, with Dani Montalvo portraying her and Luke Humphrey playing John.
'Good American Family' has been a streaming performer. Since its March 2025 launch, the series has amassed more than 140 million hours streamed globally across Hulu and Disney+. That footprint gives the anthology a strong foundation to build on — a second subject, a second season, and a story that already commands recognition.
