Netflix's 'The Politician' Trailer Stars Ben Platt Like You've Never Seen Him Before
As the streaming wars heat up heading into 2020, content, and the exclusive rights to the work of well-known creators, will become king. AppleTV+ and Disney+ are now racing to lock down some of the biggest names in entertainment, but Netflix saw the writing on the wall ahead of time. In the next few years, the service will be debuting exclusive shows from the minds of Shonda Rhimes, David Benioff & Dan Weiss, and Ryan Murphy. The last of these is the first out of the gate, with Netflix's The Politician trailer, his over-the-top Scream Queens-Meets-Tracy Flick's Election in Trump's America of 2019, starring Ben Platt.
Though Netflix has Murphy under exclusive contract, The Politician is actually the last of his shows created before his massive Netflix deal went into place in April of 2018. Netflix won the rights to this show in a massive bidding war with Hulu and Amazon and was one of the biggest TV deals of the year according to Deadline.
Like many of the streaming services' hardwon shows, Netflix offered a two-season deal right out of the gate. That's good news for fans, who don't have to worry about The Politician not surviving the first season. The first eight episodes, which generally range up to an hour, will arrive this September, with another batch most likely to come in 2020.
But really, check out the trailer. This is going to be fun.
Even better, Murphy's over-the-top sensibilities will be going all out in one detail the trailer leaves out: Ben Platt sings.
The show is not a musical, though Barbra Streisand was attached at one point. But Murphy brought in not just his regular collaborator, Brad Falchuk, but also Ian Brennan, who he teamed up with back in the day for Glee, so prep for music.
Here's the show's first season synopsis:
Payton Hobart (Ben Platt), a wealthy student from Santa Barbara, California, has known since age seven that he's going to be the President of the United States. But first, he'll have to navigate the most treacherous political landscape of all: Saint Sebastian High School. To get elected Student Body President, secure a spot at Harvard, and stay on his singular path to success, Payton will have to outsmart his ruthless classmates without sacrificing his own morality and carefully crafted image. Full of dark comedy and sly satire, Ryan Murphy's The Politician offers a rare glimpse into just what it takes to make a politician.
Along with stars Ben Platt and Gwyneth Paltrow, Murphy brings along some of his core players from other projects like American Horror Story, American Crime Story, and Feud, most notably Jessica Lange (AHS). He's also cast Zoey Deutch (Beautiful Creatures), Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody), Julia Schlaepfer (Instinct), Bob Balaban (Gosford Park) and Benjamin Barrett (Billy Madison). There are also some newcomers to the Murphy fold, including Platt's Broadway costar Laura Dreyfuss (Dear Evan Hansen), as well as Rahne Jones, Theo Germaine, and David Corenswet.
The Politician arrives on Netflix with eight episodes on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019.
