Actress Mae Whitman is set to star as the female lead in Up Here, Hulu’s upcoming musical romantic comedy series, according to Deadline. The series is expected to contain eight episodes total.
Up Here is a Hulu musical series set in 1999 New York. The story follows a couple as they fall in love and struggle to keep their relationship afloat. The main obstacles in their relationship aren’t necessarily what’s going on in the outside world, however, it’s more complicated than that. It’s their inner wants, needs, and dreams for what a healthy romantic relationship with another person means to them that might just be their downfall. The series promises to entertain viewers by combining the power of comedy and romance with the beloved Broadway-esque flair in a way only musicals can do.
Whitman got her start in commercials as a child actor and made her film debut in 1994’s When a Man Loves a Woman. She eventually gained recognition for her talent in acting with films such as Independence Day, Hope Floats, and her recurring role as Ann Veal in Arrested Development.
Besides her work in film and television, she has also contributed her voice to many classic and fan-favorite roles in various children’s cartoons. Some of her most well-known voice characters include Little Suzy from Johnny Bravo and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She’s received a Teen Choice Award nomination for her lead role in The Duff. Her most recent role was as Annie Marks in the NBC drama Good Girls.
Up Here writers will be Steven Levenson, known for Tick, Tick…Boom! and Dear Evan Hansen alongside The Carmichael Show’s writer Danielle Sanchez-Witzel. Songwriting duo Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who have written for Frozen and WandaVision, will write original music for the series. The director will be Hamilton’s Thomas Kail.
Executive producers will be Levenson, Sanchez-Witzel, Anderson-Lopez, Lopez, Kail, and Jennifer Todd. 20th Television is set to be the main production studio along with Kail’s production company, Sycamore Productions. Production for Up Here is expected to start in New York this coming summer.
With the involvement of the developers behind such masterpieces as Fosse/Verdon, which earned them nominations for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series, Up Here looks to be a fantastic musical romp through the realities of romance and all that it entails.