The Girls on the Bus bosses talk season 1 finale, season 2 plan
Julie Plec and Rina Mimoun discuss the importance of putting women's stories on television.
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the season 1 finale of The Girls on the Bus, "The Everydays."
Never trust a hot white guy." That's the moral of The Girls on the Bus, jokes co-creator Julie Plec.
Plec, of course, is referencing the big season 1 twist that the oh-so-charming Kansas mayor-turned-presidential-candidate Hayden Wells Garrett (Scott Foley) was ultimately the villain that no one — including Sadie (Melissa Benoist) — saw coming. "We walked him through the storyline. He knew that he was our big bad," showrunner Rina Mimoun says of Foley joining the show. "He really is one of those actors that can do everything, and when you look at his resume and you go back to everything he's done, it's kind of mind-blowing."
And now that Garrett has the nomination, everything is about to change for Sadie, Grace (Carla Gugino), Kimberlyn (Christina Elmore), and Lola (Natasha Behnam), because they know the truth about his past. But of course, fans will only get to see what comes next if the show's renewed. "We absolutely did talk about a season 2 and certain things are built in to the season that you've already seen," Mimoun says.
Plec adds, "The original structure was always the path that the journalist has laid out in Sadie's hopes and dreams, which is: You start at the bottom and you get on someone's bus, and then in success, you can ride their coattails all the way through the general and to the White House, and at the end of their tenure at the White House, there's books, there's a Pulitzer, there's all kinds of opportunities. The series is meant to follow that track: Season 2 maybe being the general, season 3 being the presidency or whatever. It's about that relationship between the journalists and the candidate and what they get out of the experience for better or for worse, and all the hurdles along the way."
And the Garrett twist wasn't the only major bombshell at the end of the season. Take Kimberlyn, for example, who blew up the career she's known for so long to try something new. "It was really important for us to have that character deliver her impassioned plea and speak out to her side of the aisle in that way," Mimoun says. "In season 2, she would be her own boss. Essentially, she and Lola are switching roles, where now she has to do everything on her own."
Mimoun continues, "To me, the exciting thing about season 2 is continuing the relationships of women. I'm excited about watching Kimberlyn try to create this new empire for herself while building a family. I'm curious to see Grace having to be on the road with her daughter, which is something that we were definitely leading into and seeing what that family dynamic looks like inside a bus."
Julie Plec and Rina Mimoun discuss the importance of putting women's stories on television.
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the season 1 finale of The Girls on the Bus, "The Everydays."
"Never trust a hot white guy." That's the moral of The Girls on the Bus, jokes co-creator Julie Plec.
Plec, of course, is referencing the big season 1 twist that the oh-so-charming Kansas mayor-turned-presidential-candidate Hayden Wells Garrett (Scott Foley) was ultimately the villain that no one — including Sadie (Melissa Benoist) — saw coming. "We walked him through the storyline. He knew that he was our big bad," showrunner Rina Mimoun says of Foley joining the show. "He really is one of those actors that can do everything, and when you look at his resume and you go back to everything he's done, it's kind of mind-blowing."
And now that Garrett has the nomination, everything is about to change for Sadie, Grace (Carla Gugino), Kimberlyn (Christina Elmore), and Lola (Natasha Behnam), because they know the truth about his past. But of course, fans will only get to see what comes next if the show's renewed. "We absolutely did talk about a season 2 and certain things are built in to the season that you've already seen," Mimoun says.
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Plec adds, "The original structure was always the path that the journalist has laid out in Sadie's hopes and dreams, which is: You start at the bottom and you get on someone's bus, and then in success, you can ride their coattails all the way through the general and to the White House, and at the end of their tenure at the White House, there's books, there's a Pulitzer, there's all kinds of opportunities. The series is meant to follow that track: Season 2 maybe being the general, season 3 being the presidency or whatever. It's about that relationship between the journalists and the candidate and what they get out of the experience for better or for worse, and all the hurdles along the way."
And the Garrett twist wasn't the only major bombshell at the end of the season. Take Kimberlyn, for example, who blew up the career she's known for so long to try something new. "It was really important for us to have that character deliver her impassioned plea and speak out to her side of the aisle in that way," Mimoun says. "In season 2, she would be her own boss. Essentially, she and Lola are switching roles, where now she has to do everything on her own."
Mimoun continues, "To me, the exciting thing about season 2 is continuing the relationships of women. I'm excited about watching Kimberlyn try to create this new empire for herself while building a family. I'm curious to see Grace having to be on the road with her daughter, which is something that we were definitely leading into and seeing what that family dynamic looks like inside a bus."
Ultimately, it's about telling women's stories, something both Plec and Mimoun are passionate about.
"It's a shame that the business is where it is right now, because this is exactly the kind of show that should be telling the business how valuable storytelling about women really is," Plec says. "And I think we are in this particular moment in time where nothing is telling the business how valuable anything is because everyone's in a little bit of an industry-wide free fall. But to me, as I was watching the show — and watching Sex Lives of College Girls and Hacks — I feel so warm and inspired and filled up by these stories and these women, and we all deserve that on our televisions, and we need more of it. So my hope for season 2 is that there is a season 2."
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