‘The Girls On The Bus’ Adds CNN’s Abby Phillip As Consultant, Brandon Scott As Series Regular; Griffin Dunne Among 7 Set To Recur

EXCLUSIVE: The Girls on the Bus, Warner Bros. TV’s upcoming HBO Max series about female political reporters on a presidential campaign trail, has tapped Abby Phillip, senior political correspondent and anchor of Inside Politics Sunday at WBD corporate sibling CNN, as a consultant.

Martina Tolot/ Stan Demidoff, Jessica Pierson, Tom Bloom, Todd Estrin, Josiah Bania, Davis/Spylios

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Additionally, Brandon Scott (Dead to Me, This Is Us) has been cast as a series regular opposite Melissa Benoist, Natasha Behnam and Christina Elmore. This Is Us alum Griffin Dunne has joined Scott Foley on the list of recurring players for the Berlanti Prods. series alongside Leslie Fray (Reacher), PJ Sosko (Chicago Med) as famed gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, Becky Ann Baker (Girls), Kyle Vincent Terry (Power Book II: Ghost), Tala Ashe (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Richard Bekins (Armageddon Time).

The Girls on the Bus, from writers Amy Chozick and Julie Plec, is inspired by a chapter in Chozick’s book Chasing Hillary.

2022 HBO Max Series & Pilot Orders

The series centers on Sadie McCarthy (Benoist), a journalist who romanticizes Tim Crouse’s book The Boys on the Bus and who scrapped her whole life for her own shot at covering a presidential campaign for the paper of record. Sadie hits the 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.

Scott will play the fiercest political flack in the game, who has just been hired as press secretary to the presidential front-runner. He is repped by Innovative Artists and Sweeney Entertainment.

Dunne will play Bruce Turner, Sadie McCarthy’s award-winning, grizzled editor and mentor at the paper ofrecord. He is repped by UTA; Industry Entertainment and attorney John LaViolette.

Leslie Fray will play Nellie Carmichael, a junior correspondent at Liberty National News alongside Kimberlyn. She is repped by Buchwald, and by Ashley Vickery at Vickery Management.

PJ Sosko, who is playing Thompson, is repped by Crossbeam Talent.

Becky Ann Baker will play Norah, Sadie’s protective mother, who is not happy that Sadie is re-entering the political arena. She is repped by BRS/Gage Talent Agency.

Kyle Vincent Terry will play Eric Jordan, Kimberlyn’s adoring and supportive boyfriend. He is repped by Authentic Talent and Literary Management.

Tala Ashe will play an offbeat yet accessible progressive who is Lola’s clear favorite in the presidential race. She is repped by Gartner Group Entertainment and GGSSC.

Richard Bekins will play a seasoned elder statesman and politician from the bygone days (1990s) who has been running for president since Sadie was in diapers. He is repped by Harris Spylios of Davis/Spylios Management.

Chozick and Julie Plec executive producer alongside showrunner Rina Mimoun as well as Berlanti Prods.’ Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. Benoist serves as a producer.

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