Netflix has released the first trailer for The Politician, an hour-long comedy series set to debut on September 27. Over eight episodes, the show will follow Payton Hobart, California rich kid with presidential aspirations, as he competes in a series of elections throughout his life. The series aims to satirize wealth and privilege in the United States while critiquing how it relates to US politics. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner and executive producer Ryan Murphy said of the show, “It’s wealthy people behaving badly. All of this has been percolating in the culture, particularly under this president and this idea of Ivanka and Jared [as] the sort of satanic poster boy and girl for privilege and nepotism.”
The Politician is the latest project for Murphy, who is known for creating series like Glee, American Horror Story, Nip/Tuck, and several others over a twenty year period. It is the first show he has produced for Netflix as part of a massive overall deal signed in 2018. As a holdover from the renowned showrunner’s previous deal with 20th Century Fox, the show was produced by Fox 21 TV Studios. The Politician will be the first show by Murphy to air on a non-Fox network in almost two decades. He will be joined on the series by frequent collaborators Brad Falchuk (American Horror Story, Glee, Scream Queens, American Crime Story) and Ian Brennan (Glee, Scream Queens), who are both co-creators and executive producers for The Politician.
Series lead Payton Hobart will be played by Broadway’s Ben Platt, who is coming off a Tony Winning performance for Dear Evan Hansen. Georgina Hobart, Payton’s adoptive mother, will be played by Gwyneth Paltrow. The show will feature multiple actors that Murphy has worked with in the past, including American Horror Story alums Jessica Lange and Dylan McDermott and Glee alum Laura Dreyfuss. The show will also feature Zoey Deutch as Payton’s cancer-stricken running mate and Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) as his political rival.
The trailer depicts a voraciously ambitious Payton Hobart, who boldly proclaims, “I’m going to be President of the United States. I’m merely stating a fact. I will be president someday.” It then dives into a particularly vicious school election in which Payton is running for class president. After a seemingly strong start, his campaign is derailed when a scandalous video of his running mate surfaces. The trailer proceeds to hint at even greater troubles for the main character, briefly showing a bloodied Payton walking before a sea of police cars and, later, sitting in an interrogation room. The cutthroat nature of The Politician’s world is rounded out by suggestions of assassination by Payton’s rivals, and by a line from Georgina to her son: “Your ambition frightens me.”
The Politician will be available to stream on Netflix on September 27.