Scott Foley On Why Scandal Fans Will Love The Girls On The Bus

In The Girls on the Bus, four journalists are on the campaign trail following a democratic primary candidate. Sadie romanticizes the journalists of old, bringing her voice to her reporting; Grace is a veteran famous for having her ear to the ground; Kimberlyn is a conservative cable news reporter constantly in conflict; and Lola is a social media influencer who hopes to use her platform for good. These four journalists may have different levels of experience and perspectives, but they form a true friendship, supporting one another as they discover shocking truths about presidential candidates.

Melissa Benoist leads The Girls on the Bus as both an actor and producer with a powerful performance full of pathos and comedy. Stellar performances from stars Carla Gugino, Christina Elmore, and Natasha Behnam as the other journalists leading the series make them standouts, along with fantastic performances from Griffin Dunne, Scott Foley, and Brandon Scott. The Girls on the Bus is based on co-creator Amy Chozick’s book, Chasing Hilary, which she adapted with the help of co-creator Julie Plec.

Screen Rant interviewed The Girls on the Bus star Scott Foley. He discussed how the new series could connect with Scandal fans and praised Melissa Benoist’s leadership on set. Foley also explained why he was excited to play a character known as “Hot White Guy” and revealed how long it took to learn the character’s actual name.

Why Scandal Fans Should Check Out The Girls On The Bus

Screen Rant: I have to say the show is so good. I watched the whole thing in a day and I immediately was like, “But where’s season 2 now?“

Scott Foley: I love that you feel that way. Thank you. I watched the whole season in two nights with my wife, and I’m not a great judge of stuff I’m in, so I turned to her at the end, and she was like, “Oh my god, people are going to love this.” I hope you guys are both correct.

The first question I have for you, when you read the script, why did you kind of immediately gravitate towards this character? What spoke to you with him?

Scott Foley: I didn’t even read the script. I got a call from Rina Mimoun, who is our showrunner, and I’d worked with her previously in an unproduced series. I’d worked with Julie Plec, also, on Dawson’s Creek 30 years ago, 20 something years ago. They said, Rina said, “There’s this character we think you’d be great for. He’s a small town mayor with big political ambitions. He’s a veteran.” I said, “Okay, what’s his name?” She said, “Well, right now, hot white guy.”

I was like, “Rina, I’m past the point in my career where I play, like, guy in the bleachers. I got to have a name.” She’s like, “No, no, no. I know. We haven’t come up with one yet. We need something to clear.” I think it was probably three episodes in before they pulled me aside, and they’re like, “Okay, Hayden Wells Garrett.” I thought like, “Jesus, I don’t know if I like this guy or hate him.”

I love the idea of playing a character that everybody initially likes, or the majority of people initially like. He’s a veteran. He’s a small town mayor. He is from a flyover state. He works hard. He’s on a farm, bootstrapping. There’s something respectful and sincere and honest about just that description. I love starting a character off like that and then knowing that there’s going to be some sort of transition and that’s so interesting for me to play.

Yeah. I immediately was like, “Oh, he seems great.“

Scott Foley: That’s it. It’s great. For me, the other great thing was there were such similar parallels just in military veteran and small-town mayor with big political aspirations. I was like, “Oh, I can spend hours on YouTube watching Buddha Judge, and I will have a great field of vision for who this guy is.”

You’re no stranger to this genre with your past work on Scandal. One of the things I’m curious about is what can Scandal fans get excited for this show, but also what were you excited to explore with this character that’s very different from the character you played in Scandal?

Scott Foley: Yeah, look, I think Scandal fans can be excited because I know this sort of field of vision. I know the political world when it comes to being on television and I love doing it. I think it’s so much fun. But the great difference for me is Scandal was heavy. It was very serious. People were dying. This is a story set in the same world, but told with much more levity. I think that’s really appealing, especially for where we are now politically.

Foley Leaned On His Character’s “Basic” Qualities To Set Up Late-Show Twists

Yeah, I completely agree. Then I think one of the things that’s very cool about this character is there’s this hidden depth to him. Can you talk to me a little bit about laying the groundwork through nuance for the revelations that happened later in the season without tipping your hand in the early episodes?

Scott Foley: Yeah. Look, there was something very simple about him in the beginning. In order to earn what comes later and earn the — I don’t know if it’s surprise or interest in the character, he had to be almost basic. You had to really like him. To do that, there were a couple of things that I did aside from just the sort of “aw shucks” guy. The way that I interacted, the way that Hayden interacted with the Sadie character was almost — flirtatious is not the right word, but when you want something from somebody like he did with her.

Story attention, it’s what all politicians need from journalists. “Talk about me.” Do something to make the journalist feel important, wanted. “You are the one I want to tell my story. You look great. Those earrings are fantastic.” Whatever it may be, those are the little subtleties that I tried to put in that weren’t necessarily in the script.

Very cool, it worked very well. That actually rolls perfectly into my next question. You shared such great scenes with Melissa. I’m curious what she brought to the table as both a scene partner and a producer.

Scott Foley: That’s a great question, because I always say you can step on a set and be No. 1 on the call sheet, which in this case was her. The lead of the show sets the tone of the set. If you can walk on a set and if something’s tense, you can almost point directly to the lead actor. If something’s nice and easy, you can point to the lead actor. I was so lucky going back to Scandal with Kerry Washington.

She set an amazing tone and I felt sort of spoiled by that. Since Scandal, I’ve done a couple of shows where I was the lead and my main goal was not to be a good actor, was not to do anything but to make a comfortable, warm, professional set. I’m not sure I succeeded nearly as well as Kerry or Melissa. It was so effortless with Melissa.

She’s a producer on this. She’s the lead actress. I’d never worked with her before. It didn’t seem to be a problem. She was great. Newer lines, welcoming to me. Quiet when we needed to be. Talkative and funny when not. She was a great coworker, and I’m hoping that we get a second season, because I really enjoyed working with her.

I hope so too. I’m sure you set a fantastic tone.

Scott Foley: I don’t know. I can be a little uptight sometimes.

This is such a phenomenal cast across the board. Is there anyone that you wish you’d been able to share more scenes with and hopefully might be able to in a second season?

Scott Foley: Yeah, I mean, I’ve watched Griffin Dunne since I was a kid. I remember I told him this, I did a Broadway show after we wrapped this, and he came to the premiere of it. We didn’t really have a chance to interact at all on the first season of Girls on the Bus.

I said to him, I said, “Oh my God. I watched American Werewolf in London or Paris,” whatever it was, “when I was a kid,” or I started to watch it with my family. The first thing you said had a curse word in it. My dad initially quickly shut it off and he said the line. He was like, “Oh yeah, I remember the line.” He is truly one of those journeyman actors that I think I could learn a ton from, and I would jump at a chance to work with him again.

About The Girls on the Bus

Four female journalists who follow the every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates, finding friendship, love, and a scandal that could take down not just the presidency but our entire democracy along the way.

Check back for our other The Girls on the Bus interviews:

• Melissa Benoist & Natasha Behnam
• Carla Gugino & Christina Elmore
• Brandon Scott & Griffin Dunne
• Amy Chozick, Julie Plec, & Rina Mimoun

The Girls on the Bus debuts on Max on March 14.