Christina Hendricks Unpacks Her Ending With Natalia Grace in ‘Good American Family’

[This story contains spoilers from the season finale of Good American Family.]

Christina Hendricks had 30 hours to prepare to play her Good American Family character, Cynthia Mans.

There was a lot of information out in the world on the real adoptive parent to Natalia Grace, the Ukrainian girl who was telling her story across multiple seasons of an ID docuseries. But the Man Men and Good Girls star had to set herself on a crash-course when she accepted the role of playing Cynthia opposite Imogen Faith Reid as Natalia in the Hulu series, which is inspired by the true, viral story.

“They sent me the offer like a day and a half before [filming],” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I thought, ‘Well, this is impossible. No one can pull together a character in that amount of time; this seems unfair!’ I wasn’t sure why that had happened, if someone else had fallen out. But that was the time we had and so if I wanted to do it, I had to figure it out quickly.”

Within that time period, Hendricks binged all of the ID series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which at that point had aired two of its total three seasons. She read all the scripts from creator Katie Robbins and co-showrunner Sarah Sutherland. She even studied Indianapolis accents, and then she went into hair and makeup: “We started creating who we wanted her to look like. We found a great wig, and I was on set in 30 hours!”

After flipping perspectives midway through to tell the saga from Natalia’s point of view, Good American Family ends with Natalia and Cynthia’s relationship being open ended. Reid previously told THR that she viewed their final conversation as Natalia pulling away due to the disappointment of losing her trial against her first adoptive family, the Barnetts (played by Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass), but that Cynthia made it clear her door would always remain open.

The second season of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace had ended on a major cliffhanger when the real Mans family reached out to production to make accusations against Natalia. In the third season, which released after Good American Family wrapped filming, abuse allegations were then leveled against the Mans and Natalia’s complicated relationship with the family was explored.

If Good American Family were to continue telling the rest of Grace’s story, Hendricks says she’s along for the ride. Below, she talks to THR about joining the cast so deep into the series, what she hopes viewers will take away and why justice can never truly be served for the real Natalia Grace.

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You caught me by surprise when you showed up as an alluring version of Cynthia Mans.

Thank you. It was a bit of a different role for me.

I imagine you get a lot of scripts sent your way. Why did you want to play her?

Well, when I got the script, I didn’t know anything about the real story. I was just blown away by the wild ride that this was. It’s one of the most intriguing scripts you’ll ever read. You can’t believe that it’s based on a true story. I was just captivated immediately, and then I liked the challenge of playing someone so different and I liked being a part of this Hulu structure. I’ve seen shows they’ve done in the past that they handled really, really well, with these sort of true-life dramatizations. It just felt like a great opportunity and because I come in at the end, I already knew all these great people were involved. So I wanted to be involved pretty immediately. It was a pretty wild beginning, a little bumpy for me [coming in so late]. But everyone was really welcoming and tried to make it as comfortable as they could in such a dramatic turnaround. Once I was in and I was settled, we were good to go.

So the docuseries wasn’t really on your radar previously because of how fast you had to prepare for this role.

I watched all of what was out there at the time, in that amount of time I had [30 hours before filming]. We knew when we were filming that this was an ongoing story. We knew there was going to be a season three, and we saw the end of season two. Because it’s an ongoing story, this series could go on and on and on. So we wanted to sure that it was a very specific time in these people’s lives.

What did you think when you saw how season two of the ID series ended? Did it raise questions about this woman you were playing?

I think you can’t help but have more questions at the end of that. That was the cliffhanger of their particular documentary. But I didn’t feel like we needed to worry about it because our script ends at a specific time. If we do season two, then we’ll certainly address that.

I spoke with Ellen Pompeo and Katie Robbins at the beginning of the season and Ellen said that a lot of the appeal of doing this show was how Katie approached telling the story with empathy and from so many different points of view. You play Cynthia with a lot of empathy, even though her intentions aren’t clear. What questions did you have for your showrunners?

I come in when we start to flip the perspective to Natalia’s perspective. We wanted to show a very, very different side of what was going on and probably what Natalia felt when she first met the Mans family. These people felt like a loving, safe place for her. So it was important to me to be true to what was on the page. Otherwise, the story doesn’t really work. If you’re not seeing these two very, very dramatic perspectives, then the audience isn’t going to be on that journey with you. And even if you watch the ID series, you had a little bit of that, where you’re on a roller coaster of emotions.

I didn’t have a lot of time to talk to Katie beforehand. So I had to say, this show’s been going on for five episodes already. There’s people that I respect incredibly and I know are sensitive artists, and so I’m going to trust that this is being handled in a sensitive and respectful way. And then just be as true to the character that’s in the script as possible. Because this isn’t a script or a story about taking liberties or having my own opinions about the person. This is about the dramatization of this script that Katie and Sarah wrote.

What do you hope people are feeling about Cynthia after meeting your version of her?

All of these characters are incredibly complicated. There are things that are right and there are things that are wrong. There are ways that you treat people and ways that you don’t treat people. But I think that sometimes you can find yourself in a place that you didn’t intend to start in. I think there is a sense of community with Cynthia Mans. I do think that there is a nurturing aspect to her and I think that maybe some things could go off the rails. I don’t know the full story of how she got to where she got. I only know what’s out there in the world that we’ve all been able to get our hands on. But I do think that, in so many of these stories, you started out thinking one thing; you thought you were one person and then you end up in a very, very different place.

The scene where Cynthia asks Natalia to pay for the groceries is a perfect example. It’s makes you think Cynthia is taking advantage of Natalia, but then when you see the Mans family home, you realize we don’t know what she’s doing to make ends meet. Did you read that similarly, that there are two sides?

Absolutely. That scene is very important because anyone who’s familiar with the ID series is going to go, “Here’s a weakening in her front.” And if you haven’t seen the ID series, you’re going to go, “Whoah, whoah, wait, what is going on? We thought this person was going to be the good person.” And then we see her justify it. We see Cynthia go, “Well, there’s a bunch of kids here and maybe this is a sign; maybe I could take her in” Maybe she has a longterm goal where it’s not just about taking Natalia home for dinner and taking money for her whole family. Maybe she really does think this girl’s going to need to stay here a while: “This doesn’t look good to me. Let’s get everyone fed tonight. Let’s get her safe. Let’s get her in a clean, loving home and we’ll go from there.” That’s what you hope. But you don’t know.

Katie said that finding and casting Imogen Faith Reid was key to this whole project. What was it like working with her?

I didn’t meet anybody until I was in costume on set and ready to go. But I was so lucky because Imogen had already been going for a few months. She had lots of time with a coach and Katie and Sarah. She was a natural by the time I got there. She was in her rhythm. She had a rapport with every person in the crew. So she was very comfortable. As uncomfortable as I was coming in, she put me at ease. Her and I had an immediate chemistry and I was very grateful for her. I sort of jumped in and she showed me the ropes.

The first couple of scenes that we shot were just her and I together. I think the very first thing we shot was when I picked her up on the side of the road and I say, “Let me help you out and take you to your home.” I was so nervous! I remember absolutely trembling and then we got through the first scene and I was like, “Okay, this actress is going to be great to work with.”

Do you feel like the series accomplished justice for Natalia in telling your part of the story?

I don’t know if justice is served for quite some time in this story. In some ways, it never will be. There were years of Natalia’s life that were erased by the legal system that she can never get back, She could never go to school, she could never have a normal childhood in so many different ways. So I don’t know that justice will ever be served in that manner, but I think that because this is an ongoing story that the truths that have been proven out there in the world are the truths. We know that she was a child [when she was adopted by the Barnett family and left to live on her own shortly after]. That has been proven. And I think that so many people who’ve just heard this wild story on the news go, “Oh yeah. She was a crazy scam artist or something, right?” So in that case, if you watch the show, then already some justice has been served because you are already getting to hear her side of the story.

People will come in with their own perceived ideas or bias, and the show takes time to correct those perceptions. Did you have any hesitations with that?

Oh, yeah. Because these people have been very public with this in their real lives, they’re very open to sharing this story. They’re on camera lit up and telling their stories. I feel like all we can do is help illuminate even more and maybe give you some different ideas. If you’ve already watched the ID series and you still are on the Barnetts’ side, that would be fascinating to me. I would find that really hard to believe that if you watched that whole ID series, that’s how you would feel. But I can certainly see if you only watched two episodes of our show that you might go, “Oh my gosh, this child was just a demon.” That’s why we’re really encouraging people to watch it all the way through so that you can see the other side. Hopefully enough people will have seen it that that will tell other people to watch to the end.

When I spoke with Katie, she said they didn’t reach out to any of the real people in the story, including Natalia. Did you have any interest in speaking with Cynthia?

I don’t think it would have been helpful to have Cynthia weigh in. Obviously, Cynthia’s going to have some real opinions about her own life and how things went down. But because we can only cover a certain amount in this series, to me, it was about the script.

What questions you would want to ask Cynthia?

Oh, I’d want to ask her a million questions. Obviously, we all want the truth. But I don’t think I’m going to get the truth from just asking Cynthia. I think you’d need to ask the children that were in their home, and their community and congregation. I don’t think just by asking Kristine Barnett or just by asking Cynthia Mans that anyone’s going to get the truth. I’m going to follow this story through to the very end. I’ll probably be in my 90s still following this story. It’s just absolutely fascinating. So as we learn more, I’ll be glued.

In your final scene with Imogen, Natalia is pushing Cynthia away. From the docuseries, we know their relationship changes after this point. [A title card reveals that abuse allegations against the Mans came to light; and the real Grace is now with a new family.]  How did you play that scene and what do you think is the future of Cynthia and Natalia’s relationship in your show universe?

We played that scene several different ways. We did versions where it was a lot more heated and a lot more emotional, and it got a little bit more hot. Then we did the version that made it onto the edit, which I think was the appropriate choice because at this point in their story, they’ve been mother-daughter now for several years. Natalia’s now a teenager, and teenagers are tricky. Especially going through such a traumatic trial year after year.

Before that scene, you see them with the lawyers going through materials and they’re already snapping at each other. There’s a familiarity there that we don’t have in the beginning where Cynthia is just this woman who wants to love Natalia and bring her in. So I think by the time we got to that scene, it almost needed to seem like Natalia needed to stick up for herself and show how angry she was, but also you had to see that Cynthia was a little bit of survivor and a little tough, too. I think there was a little head butting where you get to see two tough women and that’s important, because I don’t think it’s as clear as, “I’ve helped you all this time. We love each other no matter what.” I think there is some sparring going on there.

Sounds like something to explore in a second season. Would you be interested?

I mean, if they want to do it, we’ve got to explore it, right? Everyone knew that this was an ongoing story and different people had different ways that they wanted to internalize that as far as it affecting their performance. But we always knew that some of these things could change.

So you could come back playing her with different intentions?

I don’t know that they need to look like different intentions, because we do show those moments like where she asks to use Natalia’s groveries card. If the perspective is, “Oh, wait a minute, maybe Cynthia was using her.” Well, we showed moments in there, taken from real life, that could indicate those things. And we do see a little rift between them at the end. So I don’t know that it would affect what we’ve done already. I think you could come in and continue to tell that story from a different point of view and the hints that we gave in the first season would still work.

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Good American Family is now streaming all episodes on Hulu. Read THR’s finale postmortem with the rest of the cast and co-showrunners.