Warning: Spoilers for The Girls on the Bus season 1, episode 10, "The Everydays."

Summary

• Co-creator Julie Plec and showrunner Rina Mimoun plan an optimistic three-season path for The Girls on the Bus.
• Season 2 may lead to the general election, and season 3 to the presidency, exploring the journalists-candidate dynamic.
• Inspired by Amy Chozik's political reporting experience, the show focuses on unique journalists on the campaign trail.

The three-season plan for The Girls on the Bus gets an optimistic and detailed update from the show's co-creator after that cliffhanger ending involving the new Democratic candidate. Inspired by Amy Chozik's experience as a political reporter, The Girls on the Bus debuted on Max in March. It focuses on four journalists, each with unique reporting styles and personalities. This includes Sadie McCarthy (Supergirl's Melissa Benoist), a journalist who romanticizes what she believes to be a bygone era of campaign reporting.

Julie Plec, who co-created the series with Chozik, and showrunner Rina Mimoun spoke to Entertainment Weekly about what's next after that Girls on the Bus season 1 cliffhanger, in which favored candidate Felicity Walker (Hettienne Park) loses the Democratic nomination to an unexpected rival. Plec, known for creating The Vampire Diaries, particularly addressed what could be in store for Sadie, Grace (Carla Gugino), Kimberlyn (Christina Elmore), and Lola (Natasha Behnam) if Max renewed the political adaptation and detailed a three-season plan that would end with the presidency:

Mimoun: We absolutely did talk about a season 2 and certain things are built in to the season that you’ve already seen.

Plec: 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.

Girls On The Bus Sets Up A Continuation

But It Also Offers Closure

The Girls on the Bus finale, written by Chozik, with Erica Dunton directing, has one eye set towards a continuation. The candidate that everyone seems to love, Hayden Wells Garrett (Scott Foley), turns out to be corrupt, and it's confirmed that he's lied about his supposedly glowing record. At the same time, however, even as she's being questioned by the FBI, Sadie has already protected herself. She has left the evidence of Garrett's corruption with Grace, Kimberlyn, and Lola. The closing scenes suggest that the three are working hard to break the news.

Still, the Girls on the Bus finale also seems to protect itself against a possible cancellation. The major arcs involving Sadie, Lola, Kimberlyn, and Grace get resolved. Malcolm (Brandon Scott) and Sadie get together, while Lola is finally seen as a serious reporter by a major outlet in the Wall Street Journal. Kimberlyn is able to manage her marriage and career. As for Grace, she bonds with her daughter over their shared journalism skills.

The story could stop there and it would be satisfying, even if it's unclear whether Garrett wins the general election and whether Felicity can mount a political comeback. However, with its mix of melodrama and humor, not to mention a calibrated light touch, hopefully The Girls on the Bus will be able to see its three-season plan to completion. There is plenty of room for additional stories, and it would be satisfying to see the characters carry on with their arcs as they were originally intended.

The Girls on the Bus is available to stream on Max.

Source: Entertainment Weekly