‘The Five Star Weekend,’ Peacock’s new series, features Jennifer Garner and Chloë Sevigny as new friends bonding on a girls’ getaway

On Peacock’s upcoming miniseries The Five Star Weekend, sisterhood and embracing midlife are integral to the story.

Premiering on July 9, the series is an adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s bestselling novel of the same name. Jennifer Garner, who is also the show’s executive producer, stars as Hollis Shaw, a beloved foodie (think Ina Garten) whose seemingly perfect life is turned upside down when her husband dies. To help cope with her complicated grief, she decides to invite her four best friends — played by Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall, D’Arcy Carden and Gemma Chan — each from a different stage of her life, to Nantucket, Mass., for a girls’ getaway.

For Garner, the drama series represented an opportunity to connect with women she admires in Hollywood. The 13 Going on 30 star hadn’t previously met any of the show’s star-studded female cast until this production.

“Women are typically siloed off: You play you, and then maybe you have a best friend or a boss or an assistant, but it’s rarely about a sisterhood,” Garner told Entertainment Weekly, before gushing about her costars. “I was nervous to meet all of them, because I’m a fan of all their work.”

The concept of found family extends beyond the show’s premise. For Chan, working on The Five Star Weekend was everything she could’ve wanted and more. The Eternals star portrays Gigi Ling, a mysterious commercial airline pilot who befriends Hollis on social media before meeting her in person.

“This was an absolute dream,” Chan told Emmy magazine. “We were a family.”

Here, Yahoo has rounds up everything there is to know about the upcoming series, including what appealed to the cast about portraying older women and how they connected with the material.

An indie darling’s surprise involvement

Along with being a celebrated “it” girl and ’90s style icon, Sevigny is known for her appearances in acclaimed indie films, including Kids, Gummo, The Brown Bunny, Bones and All and Boys Don’t Cry (for which she earned an Academy Award nomination). A mainstream project such as The Five Star Weekend feels like a departure for the longtime New Yorker.

In the upcoming series, Sevigny portrays Tatum Mackenzie, Hollis’s fiercely loyal if sometimes petty childhood friend.

“I was a little surprised that they were even interested. Like, Am I too ‘edgy’?” Sevigny told Entertainment Weekly. “But I could see different aspects of different characters that I’ve played kind of sprinkled throughout Tatum. But I’ve been acting for 30-something years. You know, keep ’em guessing, keep ’em on their toes. Keep Hollywood surprised, keep the fans surprised. Really, I’m just interested in good storytelling, and the relatability of this was something interesting for me.”

During an appearance on Today, Sevigny joked that her involvement in the series was actually for her mother.

“I was like, ‘You know what? My mom will finally be able to walk through the grocery store and not have to have an awkward conversation about something [that I’m in,]'” she said. “So it is my gift to my mother. I know her and all of her friends are gonna love it.”

The narrative appeal of playing older women

Carden, who plays Brooke Kirtley, a bubbly suburban mom who bonded with Hollis while raising their young kids together, believes older women have more fascinating stories to tell.

Chatting with Entertainment Weekly about The Five Star Weekend, Carden described midlife as being “such an interesting age, because there’s so much happening.”

“In the same friend group, you could have somebody whose kid is going to college and somebody who’s pregnant, and somebody who is in their second marriage and somebody who’s divorced. The stories are endless,” she said.

Hall, who plays Dru-Ann Jones, a high-level sports agent and Hollis’s former college roommate, echoed Carden’s sentiments. As did Sevigny.

The Five Star Weekend delves into all of these characters’ stories, and the complexities of sisterhood and female friendship at their age. Garner expressed appreciation for how authentically this phase of life is portrayed in the show.

“By the time you’re in the middle of your life, some shit has gone down. So they all show up with hurt and grief. And in the privacy and the messiness of just sitting in each other’s stew of sisterhood, there’s room for all of it to come out and be explored,” she told Emmy magazine.

Hall told Entertainment Weekly that she’s grateful to work and not be limited by age.

“Women in midlife are on the catwalks and campaigns,” Sevigny added. “It feels very exciting now that that’s happening. … In general, there are more interesting parts for women — richer female characters, more complicated female characters. There’s an appetite for it, and an allowance for it.”

Garner’s hope for viewers

Garner has urged viewers to watch the eight-episode miniseries with their girlfriends and other important women in their lives.

“I hope they feel how much the five of us love them, and get them, and get how much female friendship means to all of us. I wouldn’t be alive,” she told Entertainment Weekly before pausing. “Well, that’s too strong of a statement. I would hopefully be alive. But I would not be me without my ladies.”