Susan Sarandon has signed on for her first starring role on a television series, with the honor of hosting the Oscar-winning actress’s TV debut naturally going to premium cable channel/streaming service Epix. Sarandon will star in the network’s half-hour political comedy Graves, playing a former first lady of the United States whose political ambitions are imperiled by her husband’s efforts to right the wrongs of his tenure in office. Sarandon’s husband, who is definitely not meant as a stand-in for any real politicians from Arkansas (to pick a state completely at random), will be played by Nick Nolte, her co-star from Lorenzo’s Oil. (Presumably, the duo’s experience striving together against intense skepticism and impossible odds will come in handy as they help launch the first original scripted comedy on a network best known for getting yelled at by Patton Oswalt.)
Graves was created by Joshua Michael Stern, whose last stab at trenchant political satire was 2008’s disappointing Swing Vote. (He’s also the one who wrangled Ashton Kutcher into a black turtleneck for the 2013 biopic Jobs.) The political comedy is one of two original shows coming to Epix, with the premium cable and video-on-demand service also acquiring a spy drama, Berlin Station, from Belgian filmmaker Michaël R. Roskam. Graves is expected to debut in fall of 2016.