Kaley Cuoco’s The Flight Attendant Will Be Your Fall TV Obsession

If you’re addicted to shows like You and Dead to Me, then get ready to meet your next TV obsession: HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, starring The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco.

The eight-episode dark-comedy–thriller is essentially the story of how an entire life can change in one night. Cuoco plays Cassie, a flight attendant who wakes up in bed with a dead man after a luxurious night on the town—and no idea what happened. The series is based on the novel of the same name by New York Times best-selling author Chris Bohjalian. It will premiere this Thanksgiving, and now HBO Max has released the must-see trailer which will make you terrified about ever hooking up with a hot stranger on an international flight. Take a look:

Insane, right? Having already seen the first two episodes, I can attest it is one of the strongest and most entertaining new series I've seen, and Cuoco is brilliant in the role. And now Glamour has an exclusive scene from the premiere episode, which is available to view for free on HBO Max.

HBO Max also released the key art/poster for The Flight Attendant. Very Ryan Murphy à la his limited series Feud, right?

Cuoco also executive-produces the show under her Yes, Norman production company. She’s joined by the powerhouse producing team of Greg Berlanti (Riverdale, Arrow, Supernatural) and Sarah Schechter (The Flash, Supergirl).

The eight-episode limited series will premiere the first three episodes on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26. For the full release schedule, see below. Production recently wrapped in New York City after taking a five-month hiatus due to COVID-19-mandated shutdowns. In August at the virtual Television Critics Association summer press tour, executive producer and co-showrunner Steve Yockey said, “We are looking to get back up and running at the end of August, but the health and safety of our cast and crew are our top priority. We wouldn’t be going back if we didn’t think we could keep everyone healthy.”

Cuoco first read “a snippet” of the book three years ago and decided to pursue the rights to it before she’d even had a chance to read it in full. “Something told me to jump on this, so once [my team] started getting into it, I read it really quick and thank goodness I loved it,” she said at the TCAs.

While her character, hard-partying Cassie, might have been friends with Cuoco’s Big Bang character, Penny, in the show’s early days, Cuoco says, ultimately, they are two very different women. “Cassie is extremely flawed,” she said at the TCAs. “It’s an actor’s dream to play someone like her. After coming off of comedy and Big Bang, there was something about this where I thought, If we could bring levity to such a dark book, it would be so cool. It’s been totally career-changing for me. It’s been wonderful.”

Currently, The Flight Attendant is considered a limited series, but both Cuoco and Yockey say they have plans for another season. So what else do we know about the show? Check out the latest teaser, below, and read on for more info.

The premiere date

After you eat all the turkey and stuffing, settle in for the ride of your life (seriously, you won't want to leave the couch) when The Flight Attendant premieres the first three episodes on Thursday, November 26, 2020 (Thanksgiving). It will then be followed by two new episodes on December 3, two new episodes on December 10, and the finale on December 17.

The cast

Rosie Perez stars as Cassie’s friend and colleague Megan Briscoe. Ironically, Perez hates flying; Cuoco carefully told her, “‘Well, there is some travel,’ but I was pretty much begging her because she was all I saw in this role.”

Perez immediately fell for Cuoco’s charm and says she’s so glad she signed on. “I had the best time…and for a person of a color to come on to a project that is extremely diverse, [that’s so important],” she said at the TCAs. “You walk on that plane [set], and it reflects how a real flight crew looks. It’s not just about ethnicity, it’s also about age. There’s various ages on that flight crew as well, and that was really great and really smart.”

Zosia Mamet stars as Cassie’s best friend, Annie Mouradian. “Kaley and I read together, and everyone thought we knew each other,” Mamet recalled during the TCAs. “But we had only met in that audition room. So it was love at first sight between us.”

Mamet says she was also drawn to the role because it offered her a chance to play the straight man for once: “It’s sort of a part I haven’t gotten to play much. Annie has her own crazy story throughout the show, but I like playing someone more together and tight to Cassie’s messy person.”

In addition to Cuoco, Mamet, and Perez, the series also stars Grey’s Anatomy alum and fan favorite T.R. Knight as Cassie’s brother, Davey Bowden; Michiel Huisman as Alex Sokolov; Michelle Gomez as Miranda Croft; Colin Woodell as Buckley Ware; Merle Dandridge as Kim Hammond; Griffin Matthews as Shane Evans; and Nolan Gerard Funk as Van White.

Behind the scenes

Kaley Cuoco has been posting behind-the-scenes photos to Instagram since the show began filming over a year ago:

The Flight Attendant will premiere on HBO Max on Thanksgiving, November 26. We’ll update this post as more information becomes available.

Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor. You can follow her on Instagram @JessicaRadloff14.

Originally Appeared on Glamour