Poorna Jagannathan Cast as Senator Maya Washburn in Hulu's Young Americans

Poorna Jagannathan has been cast as a series regular in Hulu's Young Americans, according to Deadline, published on 30 October 2026. She will play Maya Washburn, a controversial senator who was once a close friend and political ally of the President.

The show is so far a pilot. A pilot is a single first episode, made so a network or streaming service can judge whether to order more. Being a series regular means an actor is expected to appear across the whole run, not just in one or two episodes.

Scott Foley plays the President. Billie Boullet plays the President's daughter, and Sam Rechner plays Maya Washburn's son. Mia Isaac, Oscar Winter and Lauren Mei were also previously announced as cast members of the pilot.

The story is set at Capitol Crest Academy in Washington, D.C., a school where the children of the nation's elite attend. That setting puts the political families of the show under the same roof, which is where much of the drama is expected to play out.

Chris Hutton and Eddie O'Keefe wrote the script and are executive producers. Bruce Miller and Priscilla Poriand also executive produce for White Oak, and 20th Television is the studio behind the project. Executive producers are the senior people who oversee a show's creative direction and budget, from the first script to the final cut.

Natalia Leite has been tapped to direct the pilot. She co-executive produced and directed the first three episodes of Hulu's Black Cake. She has also directed a block of episodes of Netflix's Age of Innocence and Hulu's The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.

Jagannathan is best known to many viewers for her work on HBO's Lanterns, where she played Zoe opposite Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler. She also played Auntie in Hulu's Deli Boys. Her next screen role is in the Apple TV crime drama Nocturne, which premieres on 30 October.

For a pilot, the casting is one of the first big steps. Every name added to a script is a sign the project is moving forward, though a pilot does not guarantee a full season. Whether Young Americans goes to series will depend on what the network decides after it sees the finished episode.