Netflix announced they have purchased the rights to The Politician, a new satirical comedy. The Politician, created by Ryan Murphy, known for Glee, Scream Queens and the FX anthology series American Horror Story will have Ben Platt as the title character alongside Barbra Streisand and Gwyneth Paltrow.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, there was a week-long bidding war among different streaming and cable services such as Hulu, Amazon and 20th Century Fox Television. However, according to Murphy’s representative, Netflix eventually won the bid because the streaming service company guaranteed two seasons of the comedy satire.
The Politician marks the first time Platt has been cast for television. Platt is widely known for his roles of Benji Applebaum in Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 and the title character in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen which won numerous awards including Best Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Musical Theater Album at the 2018 Grammys.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Platt would play a rich resident of Santa Barbara, California and the series would center around his life as a politician. Murphy explained that each season will feature a different political campaign that the title character is involved in. Murphy also stated that each episode of the series will have a musical number.
The production of The Politician is expected to begin in Summer 2018.
