The star and executive producer is joined by D’Arcy Carden, Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, and Gemma Chan on Peacock’s adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s best-selling novel.

Jennifer Garner and the star-studded The Five Star Weekend cast on their ‘uplifting’ yet ‘challenging’ series

The star and executive producer is joined by D'Arcy Carden, Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, and Gemma Chan on Peacock's adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand's best-selling novel.

By Clarissa Cruz

Clarissa Cruz is an Executive Editor at and co-host of The Awardist podcast. She has also appeared as an entertainment expert on the Today show, The CBS Early Show, Good Morning America, E! and Access Hollywood.

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June 16, 2026 12:00 p.m. ET

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'The Five Star Weekend' cast: Gemma Chan, Regina Hall, Jennifer Garner, D'Arcy Carden, and Chloë Sevigny. Credit:

Jennifer Garner loves cooking. For proof, look no further than her Instagram account, which is peppered with videos of the actress whipping up everything from cauliflower cavatelli to miso brown butter chocolate chip cookies.**** It's one of several things she seems to have in common with her latest character, Hollis Shaw, a home cook turned food influencer turned Ina Garten-esque TV star and cookbook queen. Though Garner is quick to declare that Hollis' culinary skills surpass her own: "She's such a beautiful baker, the opposite of me. I'm a very kind of messy baker," she tells **.**** That said, Hollis' life is far more complicated outside the kitchen.**** As told in Elin Hilderbrand's 2023 best-selling novel *The Five-Star Weekend *— and in TV series form July 9 on Peacock, minus the hyphen in the title—the foodie's world is upended when her husband, Matthew (played on the show by Josh Hamilton), dies in a car crash, leaving her and her college-age daughter, Caroline (Harlow Jane), rattling around their airy, beautifully decorated beach house on Nantucket. Hollis buries herself in work in an attempt to escape her complicated grief, while aspiring filmmaker Caroline copes by making snarky remarks and bristling at her mom's efforts to connect.

"Hollis is battling with what she didn't want to see about her marriage," says Garner, also an executive producer on the series. "She's not wanting to show her daughter how she's grieving. She doesn't want to burden her. At the same time, she's almost scared of her daughter's grief. They're circling each other in this incredibly painful way."

Garner can't imagine having this dynamic with her own children (Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14, whom she shares with ex-husband Ben Affleck).

"As a mom, I just want to shake Hollis and say, 'Go to your kid! Just get to your kid, she needs you.' That restraint was hard for me. I think I’m probably more demonstrative than she is."

To shake herself out of this rut, Hollis invites four friends, each from a different stage of her life, to Nantucket for a girls' getaway. And, given her occupation, reputation for perfect hosting, and proximity to a farmers market that somehow has both gloriously ripe blackberries and an impressive tequila selection, you better believe it's going to be a five-star weekend.

Among the novel's many fans is *The Five Star Weekend* series creator and showrunner Bekah Brunstetter, who devoured Hilderbrand's book in one day when producers Ali Krug and Sue Naegle sent it to her shortly after the writers' strike ended in 2023.

"I could instantly see it as a show," says Brunstetter, whose previous projects include *This Is Us* and *Maid*. "I found it to be this incredible combination of lightness and depth, which is really hard to find in a series. I just really believe in TV shows that uplifts but also challenges at the same time."

She wrote a pilot and a season's worth of episodes to present to Garner, who was her number one choice to play Hollis.

Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner) whips up breakfast on 'The Five Star Weekend'.

Greg Gayne/Peacock

"She loves to make food for the people she loves," Brunstetter says of her star. "As soon as we started discussing her, I just felt *Yes, yes, yes*, because, like the book, there's a levity and a warmth to her, but also a depth."

Brunstetter and Garner met, appropriately enough, at Farmshop in Los Angeles' Brentwood Country Mart, where the star has been a regular for years.

"It was like 3 o'clock," Brunstetter recalls. "*Are we having lunch? Are we having dinner? Are we drinking wine?* We shared some scones and had tea. It was nice."

Garner came with ideas to add depth to the script, particularly the depiction of Hollis and Caroline's relationship, based on her own experience as a parent of teens. Then, of course, there's that whole public figure thing: The actress, who has been enormously famous since starring on the popular spy show *Alias* in 2001, as well as hits like *13 Going on 30** *(2004) and* **Juno* (2007), is very familiar with the challenges of living in the spotlight, and brought that insight to the project.

"She knows what it's like to be recognized all the time," says Brunstetter. "And to have her fame impact her old friendships and new friendships. So it was a lot of just digging into Hollis as a famous person and how that affects her relationships with her daughter and with her friends."

With Garner locked, the production team needed to find the four besties who would be joining her on this pivotal weekend. Gemma Chan signed on next as Gigi, a pilot who develops a close friendship with Hollis on social media before meeting her in person for the first time on Nantucket.

Chan was interested in exploring the chaotic side of poised, professional Gigi.

"She’s quite naughty, actually. She’s got a few secrets," says the *Crazy Rich Asians* and *Eternals* star. “She's a commercial airline pilot, so obviously on the surface she has to have her s--- together. But we thought it was quite a fun idea [to explore] what she's like underneath all that. She really wants to be in control, but underneath she's kind of a hot mess."

Adds Brunstetter: "We also talked about, without spoiling, why people have affairs. And how it affects everyone — everybody is in a relationship or knows a relationship [where] this thing has occurred. It's so common. It's something that we have so much moral judgement about. But it's also so relatable. We talked a lot about what in her life brought her to this point, and did a lot of work there."

Dru-Ann Jones (Regina Hall) and Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner) share a toast on 'The Five Star Weekend'.

Greg Gayne/Peacock

The next role to solidify was Regina Hall as Dru-Ann, Hollis' former college roommate who's now a high-powered sports agent. But after making comments about one of her clients' mental health, Dru-Ann receives swift, possibly career-ending backlash online.

Dru-Ann "is very independent and outspoken for sure," says Hall (*One Battle After Another*, *Scary Movie*). "She’s very loyal to her job, her friendships, her beliefs. She's unapologetically single and doesn't have kids. She's a different voice and different life example for the group," Hall adds of her character, who manages to stir up a little pettiness with Hollis' childhood friend Tatum (Chloë Sevigny).

At first glance, Sevigny—an indie film and style icon since she made her debut in *Kids* in 1995—seemed an unlikely fit for the role of Tatum, an earthy and plainspoken Nantucket local who married her high school sweetheart and never left town.

"I was a little surprised that they were even interested. Like, *Am I too ‘edgy'?*” the longtime New Yorker says with a laugh. "But I could see different aspects of different characters that I've played kind of sprinkled throughout Tatum. But I’ve been acting for thirtysomething 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."

Gigi Ling (Gemma Chan), Dru-Ann Jones (Regina Hall), Brooke Kirtley (D'Arcy Carden), Tatum McKenzie (Chloë Sevigny), and Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner) gather in Nantucket on 'The Five Star Weekend'.

Greg Gayne/Peacock

Casting the "fifth star" — Brooke, the eager-to-please suburban mom whom Hollis bonded with when they were raising their young kids — was especially difficult, because the creative team didn't want the character "to go broad," says Brunstetter. "Tonally, it was just the hardest character to cast. And, of course, we went down some roads that weren't right."

Ultimately, D'Arcy Carden (*The Good Place*, *Barry*) landed the part just days before the start of production.

"There's just something in her that I recognize and love," Carden says of Brooke. "I read it and I knew her."

Adds Brunstetter: "As soon as we met with D'Arcy and she read some scenes, I knew it was the perfect fit—just in the alchemy of the group."

And there is no foolproof recipe for onscreen chemistry. There could be the perfect measurements of talent and timing and writing and direction, but you never truly know for sure if the material will rise until the camera starts rolling.

Director Minkie Spiro (*All Her Fault**, **3 Body Problem*)* *decided to accelerate the process by adding a little social baking powder, i.e., hosting a gathering for Garner, Hall, Sevigny, Chan, and Carden shortly before shooting began.

"She had the idea to get us together — and not at a restaurant where we'd eat lunch and be polite and everything, but her house," says Carden. "She wanted us to eat, and then she wanted us to play *Pictionary*. And truly not a quick game of *Pictionary*. I think we played for like two hours. It was really the right move, because it did kind of force us to be in this weird, sort of uncomfortable, vulnerable situation where it wasn't just the typical, small talk, getting-to-know-you questions."

None of the five actresses had ever even met, much less worked together before. Pretty astounding given the longevity of their respective careers. Garner, who says she and Sevigny "have circled each other forever," offers a very simple (and kind of infuriating) reason why.

"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," explains the star, who was thrilled *The Five Star Weekend* is supported by a female showrunner and writer, female directors, and an all-female team of producers.

That said, costarring with such powerhouses, "I was nervous to meet all of them, because I'm a fan of all their work," says Garner, who adds that each woman ended up challenging her preconceptions of them in one way or another.

Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner), Caroline (Harlow Jane), Tatum McKenzie (Chloë Sevigny), Dru-Ann Jones (Regina Hall), and Brooke Kirtley (D'Arcy Carden) gather around the dinner table on 'The Five Star Weekend'.

Adam Rose/Peacock

"Chloë is so cool-girl New York City and I'm so suburban mom, but actually, she's pretty suburban [too]," says Garner. "I was surprised by how maternal she is. D'Arcy is so, so emotional, such a connector. She's the person who is always making sure that we have taken a picture. Gemma, I was surprised that she's a lawyer." (Chan holds a law degree from the University of Oxford.) "I was also surprised when we had our dance scene. Gemma could really get down." As for Hall, "Regina has a real business mindset, and she's a real entrepreneur. And she's so smart. Regina's the whole package. All of us wanted time with Regina."

Over the four-month shoot — three months during the summer of 2025 in L.A., then a few weeks on Nantucket — Sevigny says Garner did a lot to make sure the cast felt comfortable getting vulnerable.

"She really set the tone and was very open," Sevigny notes. "We just started talking about very deep things from the get-go. And being a set of mostly women… everybody was very honest about things going on in their lives, and their past, and their struggles. It created a bond very quickly."

That bond helped the cast navigate the vacillations in tone that *The Five Star Weekend* required. Their stories, after all, grapple with losing your husband, your job, your health, your connection to your kids, your sense of self — things that aren't easily solved by shots of tequila and a '90s dance party.

"I was surprised in shooting this show, how much drama there was and how hard it was to do," says Garner. "That's often the case in a comedy, because in order to laugh you have to see the pain that someone's coming from. I remember way back in *13 Going on 30*, feeling like *Oh my gosh I've never cried so much in anything*, and it was a comedy! And so with this, I definitely was taken aback. Of course, this woman lost her husband. But I kept being, *Oh my gosh, I have to be Sad Hollis again, I want to laugh with you guys on the couch*!" She pauses. "But [my costars] were the perfect scene partners for that, and perfect friends for it. They really held me through that and through all of what we did with each other."

That's a far more supportive relationship than her character has with her daughter.

"Enjoy your *Golden Girls *weekend," Caroline huffs to Hollis in an early episode of the show. Brooke then helpfully points out that most of that sitcom's main characters were in their 50s, to which Tatum snaps, "Shut your mouth."

Sevigny, 51, is much less prickly about getting older than her character is.

"There isn't much of a stigma, I think, around aging. Women in midlife are on the catwalks and campaigns," she says. "It feels very exciting now that that's happening." She notes the progress in the kinds of roles she seeing now. "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."

Brooke Kirtley (D'Arcy Carden), Dru-Ann Jones (Regina Hall), Gigi Ling (Gemma Chan), Tatum McKenzie (Chloë Sevigny), and Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner) on 'The Five Star Weekend'.

Seacia Pavao/Peacock

Narrative-wise, Carden, 46, believes older women inherently have more interesting stories to tell.

Midlife "is such an interesting age, because there's so much happening," she says. "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."

Indeed, there seems to be a cottage industry for shows that center around women of a certain age: *Sirens, Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers *to name a few — even Netflix's *The Perfect Couple*, the first and only other time a Hilderbrand book has been adapted for the screen.

"There is an audience who wants to see this, who likes this content. As an actress, it's obviously wonderful," says Hall, 55. "I feel really grateful to work, period. And to still be not limited by age."

Brunstetter, 43, attributes the increased interest in shows centered on women in their 40s and 50s to more awareness of this era of life in general.

"To get really granular about it, perimenopause wasn't a word until like five years ago," she says with a laugh. "We're thinking about [midlife] women instead of discarding them."

Meanwhile, Garner, 54, is happy to keep bringing these stories to the screen, and hopes *The Five Star Weekend *will be meaningful for viewers as they deal with life's bumps.

"I hope that [women] watch it with their girlfriends," Garner says of the eight-episode season. "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 adds before a thoughtful pause. "Well, that's too strong of a statement. I would hopefully be *alive*. But I would not be me without my ladies."

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