As a child you’re often asked about what you want to be when you grow up, the answers tend to lean towards professional athletes or astronauts. Well, how about the President of the United States? “The Politician” looks at how a young man navigates high school before embarking on his political aspirations.
The creator of the series is veteran writer Ryan Murphy, who has created various hit series including “Glee” and “American Horror Story.” He, along with Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan (both have worked with Murphy on ‘Glee’ and “Scream Queens”) have created a story about Payton Hobart, played by Ben Platt (“Pitch Perfect”), who since the age of seven has wanted to be the President. But to get there, he must first go through high school before he continues his quest to become a politician.
Murphy signed with Netflix back in February 2018 for a reported $300 million, and he spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about his new show and inspiration for it. He said, “it’s wealthy people behaving badly,” he continued, “all of this has been percolating in the culture, particularly under this president and this idea of Ivanka [Trump] and Jared [Kushner as] the sort of satanic poster boy and girl for privilege and nepotism.”
The creator would go onto say, “it’s not a show on current U.S. politics. It’s more about the phenomenon of what it takes to be a politician and how much of yourself you have to sacrifice to be a good one.”
Although the show does take inspiration from reports that Kushner was accepted to Harvard after his father gave the university $2.5 million, Falchuk admitted in the same interview, saying, “This guy was walking around with the pride of being a Harvard graduate, and the reality was that he didn’t belong there,” he finished by saying. “We’ve got to tell this story.”
The show is set to feature Gwyneth Paltrow (“Iron Man”), Lucy Boynton (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) and Zoey Deutch (“The Disaster Artist”).
Here is the synopsis:
Payton Hobart, a student from Santa Barbara, has known since age seven that he’s going to be President of the United States. But first he’ll have to navigate the most treacherous political landscape of all: Saint Sebastian High School.
The first series will have eight episodes and will start streaming on Netflix on September 27. Watch the new trailer below.