The series, based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel, is now available to stream on Peacock
Credit: Adam Rose/PEACOCK
NEED TO KNOW
- The Five Star Weekend series, based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel, was released on Peacock on July 9
- The series’ showrunner Bekeh Brunstetter spoke with PEOPLE about one of the show’s biggest changes from the book
- “We were just trying to go deeper, even deeper than the depth that [Hilderbrand] already explored,” Brunstetter said
This story contains spoilers for The Five Star Weekend.
Elin Hilderbrand‘s 2023 novel, The Five-Star Weekend, is now a Peacock miniseries — and showrunner Bekeh Brunstetter is breaking down one of the biggest changes from the book.
The TV adaptation follows chef and widow Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner), who invites her friends for a weekend getaway on Nantucket in the aftermath of her husband’s sudden death. The ensemble cast is made up of Chloë Sevigny, Gemma Chan, Regina Hall and D’Arcy Corden.
“I love the characters. I love the stories,” said Brunstetter in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE. “If anything, we were just trying to go deeper, even deeper than the depth that [Hilderbrand] already explored, and also just make sure that what is internal in the book becomes external so that the audience can see what’s going on.”
Credit: Little, Brown Paperbacks
One of those changes involved Chan’s character Gigi, who has a secret affair with Hollis’ late husband, Matthew (Josh Hamilton).
In the book, antagonist Electra (Judy Greer) confronts Gigi during a beach trip about the relationship, after she suspects an affair. Electra then reveals the news to everyone.
In the show, however, news of the affair doesn’t reach Hollis right away. Brooke (Carden) learns of the infidelity and confides in Dru-Ann (Hall) and Tatum (Sevigny) before confronting Gigi and telling Hollis.
“Obviously, in the book, the secret of Gigi stays secret for much longer and it’s secret from everyone, but I wanted to really build a true ensemble show,” Brunstetter said. “So you have to, in the breaking of those stories, just include everyone a little bit earlier in the secret so that it affects everyone’s lives.”
Hilderbrand also had opinions on some of the on-screen changes, as she told PEOPLE in an exclusive Q&A.
Credit: Seacia Pavao/Peacock
“One of my favorite episodes of this show is set at a day spa — and Nantucket doesn’t even have a proper day spa,” the author said. “But when the readers see this episode, it will feel so organic to the story that they might wonder if there’s a spa scene in the book (there isn’t).”
Brunstetter noted how enthusiastic Hilderbrand was about the series’ portrayal of Nantucket, where she lives and sets many of her books.
“Sometimes a writer doesn’t want their work changed and that’s tough in the adaptation process obviously, but Elin’s been so generous and really the only thing she is most passionate about is making sure that we got Nantucket right, that we really captured the place and we got to actually film there, which was really amazing,” the showrunner said. “And that made Elin really happy, which made me happy.”
All episodes of The Five Star Weekend are now available to stream on Peacock.
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