Supergirl Star Melissa Benoist in Talks for New HBO Max Drama
Supergirl alum Melissa Benoist has reportedly found her next project with Warner Bros. As The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Friday, Benoist is nearing a deal to star in The Girls on the Bus, an upcoming drama series expected to debut exclusively on HBO Max. The project would reunite Benoist with Supergirl executive producer Greg Berlanti, who is executive producing the series alongside The Vampire Diaries' Julie Plec. The Girls on the Bus is adapted from a chapter in Amy Chozick's best-selling 2018 book Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling, and follows four female journalists who follow every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates, while finding friendship, love, and scandal along the way. Benoist would star as one of the four journalists in the fictionalized story.
The Girls on the Bus has had a long journey to the small screen, initially being developed for Netflix in 2019, with nearly a full season's worth of scripts being written and preliminary casting in progress, only to be dropped by the streaming service during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then picked up by The CW (which previously aired Supergirl, which debuted its final season last year), which aimed to redevelop it for a younger audience. The project, which is written by Plec and Chozick, was just moved to HBO Max earlier this week, with a straight-to-series order.
Last February, Benoist signed a multi-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television, which would not only see her star in projects, but develop and produce them under her own banner, Three Things Productions.
"I've had a wonderfully supportive home at Warner Bros. for the last six years, and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to put on a producer's hat and continue working with them," Benoist said at the time. "I approach my work as an actor in search of that magic gut feeling you get when you know something is right. I plan on following those instincts as a producer, approaching each story with passion, playfulness, curiosity, a sure-footed step, and like all things worth taking a risk on, a hint of terror. I can't wait to collaborate with new voices and find stories that hit the heart in that indefinable way."
"For the last six years, we have been privileged to collaborate with Melissa Benoist as she entertained and inspired audiences around the world in the signature role of Supergirl," Warners executive vice president of development Clancy Collins White added. "Everyone at Warner Bros. Television is extremely excited to continue our partnership with her as a producer. We look forward to working closely with Melissa and her team to develop new and compelling series that reflect her fearless and indomitable spirit."
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