Ever since scaling back her on-camera appearances on Grey's Anatomy since season 19, Ellen Pompeo's role on the show has been the biggest question among fans before each new season begins. While the actress used to appear as leading character Meredith Grey in every single episode, Pompeo has since decreased her role to just seven or so episodes per season.
Going into Grey's Anatomy season 23, fans are already wondering how many episodes Meredith will appear in onscreen. Pompeo remains on board the show as an executive producer and the narrator of each episode, but her level of involvement in front of the camera hasn't yet been confirmed. A new update about Pompeo's career also suggests her episode count could get trickier.
Hulu orders new comedy series pilot starring Ellen Pompeo
Ellen Pompeo will star in and executive produce the Hulu comedy-drama pilot Chicks, which the streaming service just ordered on June 4, 2026. Deadline notes that filming on the pilot is expected to begin in September 2026 in New York, which directly interferes with the production schedule of Grey's Anatomy season 23 in Los Angeles and could impact Pompeo's on-screen presence.
Currently, Chicks is only in the pilot stage and filming a single episode won't take Pompeo's attention away from her recurring role on Grey's for too long. However, if Hulu decides to order Chicks to series, the first season will film all at once, likely again in New York, at an undesignated point in time in the future and would definitely take a decent chunk out of Pompeo's availability.
Grey's Anatomy fans have contended with Pompeo filming another project for Hulu before in the past, as she starred and executive produced in the streamer's hit limited series Good American Family. For the most part, Pompeo was able to still maintain her limited role as Meredith, but a new series that's not a limited series and films on another coast could create challenges.
Chicks reteams Pompeo with Good American Family creator Katie Robbins, who created the new series from an original idea that was specifically intended for Pompeo to star in. She will play Chickie, who reunites with her estranged half-sister Doreen after their father unexpectedly dies. After inheriting their father's penchant for crime, the sisters run cons and grow closer together.
While the pilot, and potentially the series should it be picked up, films in New York, Chicks takes place in Boston, Pompeo's hometown. The series is described as a comedy-drama, though it hasn't been specified whether it will be a half-hour or hourlong series, a detail that matters when considering Pompeo's availability to appear on Grey's Anatomy in the future.
Even though starring in another series, even a streaming original with a limited episode count, would pose certain logisitcal obstacles in juggling in her star-making role, Pompeo has insisted that she will never fully leave Grey's Anatomy. After all, she's also executive producing the new Texas-set spinoff that premieres on ABC in 2027. We'll have to wait and see what happens with Chicks and Pompeo's season 23 episode count.
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