Posted in: HBO, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: hbo max, melissa benoist, preview, Scott Foley, the girls on the bus
The Girls on the Bus: HBO Max, Melissa Benoist Series Adds Scott Foley
HBO Max's The Girls on the Bus has cast Scott Foley (The Big Leap) in a key recurring role in the Melissa Benoist, Natasha Behnam & Christina Elmore-starring political drama. Stemming from Julie Plec, Chozick, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. TV, the series spotlights journalist Sadie McCarthy (Benoist), who hits the campaign trail and eventually bonds with three female competitors, Grace, Lola (Behnam), and Kimberlyn (Elmore). Despite their differences, the women become a found family with a front-row seat to the greatest soap opera in town: the battle for the White House. Foley is set to play a little-known mayor from Kansas who joined the presidential race.
Written by Plec and Chozick, the character-driven comedic drama series draws its inspiration from "The Girls on the Bus" chapter of Chozick's book Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns and One Intact Glass Ceiling and revolves around four female journalists who follow every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates while finding friendship, love, and scandal along the way. Benoist portrays Sadie McCarthy, a journalist who romanticizes Tim Crouse's Boys on the Bus and who scrapped her whole life for her own shot at covering a presidential campaign for the paper of record. Behnam portrays Lola Gabriel is a sharp-witted and passionately political TikTok star and well-known Gen Z influencer. Elmore's Kimberlyn Kendrick is an Ivy League-educated Reagan Republican and campaign reporter for Liberty News.
Reportedly, discussions with Benoist about joining the cast of The Girls on the Bus were ongoing as the project was being negotiated for a move from The CW to HBO Max. And though the streaming service's series order was not based upon it, Deadline Hollywood reported that Berlanti and his team had reached out to Benoist about coming aboard the series and that her interest in one of the lead roles was a major factor (though not the deciding factor) in HBO Max going ahead with its straight-to-series order.