The Lorena Bobbitt case, the woman who in 1993 cut off her husband John’s penis with a kitchen knife after accusing him of sexual violence, will become the centerpiece of the second season of Good American Family, Hulu’s true-crime anthology series. And now the two actors who will portray the controversial couple have indeed been announced: Isabela Merced will play Lorena Bobbitt, while Patrick Schwarzenegger will take on the role of the ex-husband John.
Good American Family: What we know about the second season that will cover the Bobbitt case
After a first season devoted to the story of Natalia Grace Barnett, Good American Family changes its storytelling and its leads. The project, initially conceived as a miniseries, has indeed evolved into an anthology series, with each season centering on a new real-life crime story. The first cycle of episodes, featuring Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo in the cast, recounted the story of Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian girl with dwarfism adopted in 2010 by an American family. The adoptive parents claimed she was actually an adult posing as a child, giving rise to a highly controversial legal and media case. The first season premiered in March 2025 and amassed over 140 million hours of global viewing on Hulu and Disney+. For the second installment, Katie Robbins will return, the creator, writer, and executive producer of the first season. Among the executive producers is also Ellen Pompeo, who, however, this time is not expected to return to the screen.
The true story of Lorena and John Bobbitt: what happened in 1993
The case at the center of the new season is one of the most famous and discussed in 1990s American crime reporting. In June 1993, in Virginia, Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband John’s penis with a kitchen knife while he slept, after accusing him of raping and mistreating her during their marriage. After driving away, Lorena hurled the member out of the car window and subsequently contacted the authorities, confessing what had happened. The police recovered it, and John underwent surgery to reattach it. The case drew enormous media attention and became a spectacle followed by millions of people, filled with crude jokes, television debates, and discussions about domestic violence and gender relations. During the trial, Lorena testified to years of physical, verbal, economic, and sexual abuse by her husband. She was acquitted by reason of insanity and the couple divorced in 1995.
The Lorena and John Bobbitt story has already been told in other productions, including the 2020 television film I Was Lorena Bobbitt and the docuseries Lorena, produced by Jordan Peele and distributed on Prime Video in 2019. In the second season of Good American Family, however, there is also an intent to show how the trauma experienced by the woman was transformed into media entertainment, in a case capable of fueling a culture war between the sexes.
Isabela Merced and Patrick Schwarzenegger: who are the protagonists
Lorena Bobbitt will be portrayed by Isabela Merced, an actress who in recent years has built a career across cinema and television. The show’s audience knows her mainly for the role of Dina in the second season of The Last of Us. She has also acted in Alien: Romulus and in James Gunn’s Superman film, in which she plays Hawkgirl. John Bobbitt will be portrayed by Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. After various experiences in film and television, Patrick gained wide visibility thanks to the role of Saxon Ratliff in the third season of The White Lotus (where, incidentally, he was the subject of a much-discussed nude scene). More recently he also appeared in Prime Video’s romantic film Love of Your Life.
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