Posted in: HBO, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: hbo max, Mark Consuelos, melissa benoist, preview, the girls on the bus

The Girls on the Bus: Mark Consuelos Joins Melissa Benoist Series Cast

Published Mon, 31 Oct 2022 17:25:10 -0500

by Ray Flook

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A month after we learned that filming on the pilot had wrapped, we're learning from Deadline Hollywood that Mark Consuelos (Riverdale, Only Murders in the Building) has joined the cast of HBO Max's Melissa Benoist, Natasha Behnam & Christina Elmore-starring The Girls on the Bus in a recurring role. Stemming from Julie Plec, Amy 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. Consuelos portrays a major Hollywood action star-turned-politician who joined the presidential race after a Twitter poll said 46 percent of Americans would vote for him- regardless of party affiliation.

Joining Benoist, Behnam, Elmore, and Consuelos are Brandon Scott (Dead to Me, This Is Us), Scott Foley (The Big Leap), Griffin Dunne (This Is Us), Leslie Fray (Reacher), PJ Sosco (Chicago Med), Becky Ann Baker (Girls), Kyle Vincent Terry (Power Book II: Ghost), Tala Ashe (DC's Legends of Tomorrow), Richard Bekins (Armageddon Time), and Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill House). Earlier today, Showrunner Chozick took to Instagram Stories to confirm that filming on the pilot episode has wrapped- here's a look:

What You Need to Know About HBO Max's The Girls on the Bus

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. Abby Phillip, a senior political correspondent & anchor of CNN's Inside Politics Sunday, serves as a consultant.

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. Foley is set to play a little-known mayor from Kansas who joined the presidential race.

Scott is the fiercest political flack in the game, who has just been hired as press secretary to the presidential front-runner. Dunne's Bruce Turner is Sadie McCarthy's award-winning, grizzled editor and mentor at the paper of record. Fray's Nellie Carmichael is a junior correspondent at Liberty National News alongside Kimberlyn. Sosco is set to play famed gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Baker's Norah is Sadie's protective mother, who is not happy that Sadie is re-entering the political arena. Terry's Eric Jordan is Kimberlyn's adoring and supportive boyfriend.

Ashe portrays an offbeat yet accessible progressive who is Lola's clear favorite in the presidential race. Bekins plays a seasoned elder statesman and politician from the bygone days (the 1990s) who has been running for president since Sadie was in diapers. Gugino's Grace Gordon Greene is a veteran reporter, friend & mentor to Sadie (Benoist), referred to as "journalistic royalty" and known as "Queen of the Scoop."

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