"Stranger Things" Star Cara Buono Cast in Recurring Role at Hulu's "Southern Bastards"

Stranger Things star Cara Buono has been tapped for a recurring role in the upcoming Southern Bastards pilot ordered by Hulu.

What's Happening:

• The pilot ordered at Hulu, Southern Bastards, has a new cast member in the form of Cara Buono in a recurring role.
• Variety reports that the Stranger Things actress will appear alongside leads Kevin Bacon, Erin Kellyman, and Tim McGraw. Additional cast includes Jonathan Tucker, Amin Joseph, Ethan Suplee, Derek Luke, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
• Details about Buono's character are still being kept under wraps.
• The pilot is based on the graphic novel of the same name, and was ordered by Hulu back in October of last year. The official logline promises that we will "follow a tenacious military vet (Kellyman) into Craw County, Alabama, in search of estranged father (Bacon). What she finds is a murderous hornet's nest of organized crime run by the winningest high school football coach in the South (McGraw)."
• Buono recently starred as Karen Wheeler in the hit Netflix series, Stranger Things, which ended alongside 2025. Buono also received an Emmy nom back in 2011 for her role as Dr. Faye Miller in Mad Men.
• Buono was also in the feature film, Monsters and Men, which was directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, who is also directing the Southern Bastards pilot.
• No premiere date or production timeline has been shared as of press time.

The Source Material:

• Originally running from 2014 - 2018 with a total of 21 issues, Southern Bastards is a gritty, crime-heavy American graphic novel series that leans into the darker side of Southern culture.
• There is small-town corruption, generational violence, and an almost mythic obsession with high-school football.
• Set in the fictitious Craw County, Alabama, the comic is not a fun, humorous, or superhero-infused story like one might think of first for the medium, instead being extremely violent and raw, and full of morally gray characters.
• It was very well received, winning the 2015 Harvey Award for Best New Series and the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series.