Jessica Williams, erstwhile Daily Show host and budding rom-com star, has just been cast in Hulu's remake of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Hulu announced today the main cast of the show, a reboot helmed by comedian Mindy Kaling. In the lead role will be Williams, playing Jess, a political upstart who ditches her professional life to attend, well, those four weddings and that one funeral. Per the release, Jess leaves her professional job (as communications director for a senatorial campaign) after her college roommate invites her to a wedding overseas. This is the role that Andie McDowell played in the 1994 movie — McDowell was Carrie, an American who kept encountering Hugh Grant's character at various weddings and funerals. (To be clear, there were four weddings and one funeral.)
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Williams, who left The Daily Show in 2016, has recently become a rom-com favorite, starring in the Sundance darling The Incredible Jessica James last year. Even earlier, she starred in the film People Places Things, a rom-com about a couple torn apart by infidelity. In the coming year, she will appear the comedy Booksmart and the horror-comedy Corporate Animals. She's also — NBD — going to appear in the next Fantastic Beasts film. Meanwhile, Williams has accrued a devoted fanbase via her WNYC podcast Two Dope Queens.
In Four Weddings, Williams will be joined by John Reynolds (Search Party), Nikesh Patel (the upcoming Artemis Fowl adaptation), and Rebecca Rittenhouse (latter seasons of The Mindy Project). It is not yet clear who will play the love interest to Williams' Jess.
Four Weddings and a Funeral, which is a series, just to be clear, will premiere on Hulu sometime in 2019.