‘The Flight Attendant’: Natalie Chaidez Boards HBO Max’s Kaley Cuoco Drama As Co-Showrunner, Meredith Lavender & Marcie Ulin Exit

Peter White
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: The Flight Attendant, the Kaley Cuoco-fronted HBO Max drama, is getting a new co-pilot.

Natalie Chaidez, who was previously exec producer of USA Network’s Queen of the South, is boarding the series as co-showrunner alongside Steve Yockey for its second season.

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She will exec produce alongside showrunner Yockey, Cuoco, Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin, who were co-showrunners of season one, will depart.

The series, based on the book of the same name by author Chris Bohjalian, centers on alcoholic, globe-trotting flight attendant Cassie Bowen (Cuoco) who becomes embroiled in an espionage plot following her affair with a first class passenger, who winds up murdered after their night together.

The Flight Attendant, which was the nascent streamer’s strongest launch for an original series during its eight-episode run, was originally intended to be a limited series, but series creator and EP Steve Yockey and Cuoco knew their were more flights to take.

The series also stars Michiel Huisman, Rosie Perez, Zosia Mamet, Michelle Gomez, T.R. Knight, Colin Woodell, Merle Dandridge, Griffin Matthews and Nolan Gerard Funk.

It is produced by Warner Bros. Television, Cuoco’s Yes, Norman Productions, and Berlanti Productions. Yes, Norman’s Suzanne McCormack is co-executive producer.

The show’s first season was filmed in New York, Bangkok, and Rome. The second season will film in California after it received a significant tax credit.

In February, Cuoco told Deadline that the CIA is “definitely interested” in Cassie’s next leg. “We haven’t written anything yet, we just started our writers’ room, but I think the journey for her emotionally is that she is going to try and have a sober journey. Because she is so impatient, and her personality is so black-and-white, she’s going to go into this thinking it’s easy; a quick fix and that she’s fixed her demons. I think she’s going to learn very quickly that this is a life-long struggle and she’s going to be way over her head,” she added.

LA native Chaidez is a veteran creator, executive producer, and showrunner who works in both television and features. As well as exec producing and writing Queen of the South, she previously created and executive produced Syfy drama Hunters and wrote and produced series including 12 Monkeys, In Plain Sight, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Heroes.

In addition to her work behind the camera, she is a lifelong athlete, an avid soccer player and skater, most recently with the L.A. Derby Dolls.

She is represented by CAA and Circle of Confusion.

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