‘The Politician’: First Look at Ryan Murphy’s New Netflix Series (PHOTOS)

Meredith Jacobs August 8, 2019

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Ben Platt in The Politician — Courtesy of NETFLIX

**The Antihero**

Netflix is hoping you’ll love to loathe the calculating Payton Hobart (Tony winner Ben Platt), aka ***The Politician***, in Ryan Murphy’s colorfully corrosive and darkly comic melodrama of ruthless ambition at a Santa Barbara, California, high school. Part *Glee*, part *Manchurian Candidate*, this messy yet fascinating cartoon parable ponders the value of winning at the cost of one’s soul. And yes, there’s singing.

The_Politician_S01E01_15m35s22432f — Courtesy of NETFLIX

Theo Germaine, Julia Schlaepfer, and Laura Dreyfuss

The_Politician_S01E01_27m36s39717f_R — Courtesy of NETFLIX

Ben Platt and Gwyneth Paltrow

The_Politician_S01E01_53m14s76584f_RC — Courtesy of NETFLIX

Jessica Lange, Ben Platt, and Zoey Deutch

The_Politician_S01E02_24m54s35832f_R — Courtesy of NETFLIX

Ben Platt and Gwyneth Paltrow

The_Politician_S01E02_33m51s48716f_R — Courtesy of NETFLIX

David Corenswet and Ben Platt

The_Politician_S01E02_9m37s13834f — Courtesy of NETFLIX

Ben Platt, Zoey Deutch, and Kyle Eastman

The_Politician_S01E03_25m38s36888f — Courtesy of NETFLIX

Rahne Jones and Lucy Boynton

The_Politician_S01E04_34m45s50011f — Courtesy of NETFLIX

Lucy Boynton

Politician_106_Unit_00061_RC — Beth Dubber/Netflix

Jessica Lange

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What does it take to make a politician? Payton Hobart (Ben Platt) is going to find out in the new Netflix series, The Politician.

And where better to get a crash course than in high school? The streaming service released a first look at Platt and the rest of the cast of Ryan Murphy’s comedy Thursday.

The series follows Payton, a wealthy student from Santa Barbara, California, who has known he’s going to be President of the United States since the age of seven. But in order to stay on his path to success, he must get elected Student Body President at Saint Sebastian High School and secure a spot at Harvard. And to do that, he has to “outsmart his ruthless classmates without sacrificing his own morality and carefully crafted image,” according to Netflix’s description.