EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off a BAFTA nomination for her work in Jack Thorne’s Netflix limited series Toxic Town, Jodie Whittaker has landed a starring role opposite Ellen Pompeo in Chicks, the Hulu pilot from Good American Family‘s Katie Robbins that we scooped in June.
Hailing from 20th Television, with Robbins as writer and executive producer, Chicks is a two-hander dramedy set in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of old Boston. The show follows Chickie (Pompeo) and Doreen, two estranged half-sisters who are both struggling to get by when their wise guy dad unexpectedly kicks the bucket. Their only inheritance is a legacy of two-bit crime that inspires them to run increasingly audacious frauds. As their con grows, so does their odd-couple bond, as they each start to fill the father-shaped hole in the other’s heart.
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Whittaker will play Doreen, who is wiry and wired, as scrappy as they come, has worked every job under the sun, and is no stranger to a less-than-legal side hustles. But beneath her rough, wise-cracking exterior, she’s a puppy dog, and all she really wants is to be seen by her big sister Chicks.
Chicks is based on an original idea from Robbins that she developed specifically for Pompeo, inspired by conversations the two had on set of their first project together, the Hulu limited series Good American Family. Pompeo and Robbins exec produce alongside the latter’s Calamity Jane partner Laura Holstein. The pilot is eying a September production start in New York.
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In addition to Toxic Town, Whittaker has recently been seen in the BBC limited series Dear England, opposite Joseph Fiennes, and Netflix’s comedy Office Romance with Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein.
Best known for breaking barriers to become the first female “Doctor” in the iconic British series Doctor Who, Whittaker will next be seen starring in the upcoming 4th season of The Diplomat for Netflix, as well as Apple TV’s limited series Wild Things on Siegfried & Roy, alongside Andrew Garfield, Jude Law, and Justin Theroux.
Currently filming the London-set sixth season of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, Whittaker is repped by Independent Talent and Cognition.
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