Jennifer Garner, D’Arcy Carden, Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, and Gemma Chan star in Peacock’s adaptation of the best-selling novel.

Book lovers rejoice! The Five Star Weekend gets companion podcast with author Elin Hilderbrand (exclusive)

Jennifer Garner, D'Arcy Carden, Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, and Gemma Chan star in Peacock's adaptation of the best-selling novel.

By Patrick Gomez

Patrick Gomez

Patrick Gomez is an Executive Editor at . Formerly at People magazine and The A.V. Club, the Critics Choice and Television Critics Association member has appeared on ‘Today,’ ‘Extra!,’ ‘Access Hollywood,’ ‘E! News,’ ‘CNN,’ and ‘Nightline,’ and can be seen frequently on ‘Good Morning America.’ Follow the Texas Native at @PatrickGomezLA wherever your media is social for all things ‘For All Mankind’ ‘Top Chef,’ and puppy related.

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June 21, 2026 2:00 p.m. ET

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'The Five Star Weekend' companion podcast with author Elin Hilderbrand. Credit:

Readers devoured Elin Hilderbrand's *The Five-Star Weekend*, and now they'll be able to pour over every detail of Peacock's adaptation of the best-selling novel — with insights from the author herself!

All eight episodes of season 1 — starring Jennifer Garner, D'Arcy Carden, Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, and Gemma Chan — will drop on July 9, but the podcast will not be a binge release, ** can exclusively reveal.

The companion podcast will be a total of eight episodes, one for each episode of season 1, with two pods released each Thursday starting premiere day. In addition to being available in audio form on all major audio platforms, a video version will stream on Peacock and Peacock's YouTube channel — and you cab watch the official trailer below.

Hilderbrand will be joined on the podcast by guests Garner, Carden, Chan, Hall, and Sevigny — as well as their costars Harlow Jane and West Duchovny, series creator Bekah Brunstetter, directors Minkie Spiro and Jennifer Morrison, and more.

Jennifer Garner and Elin Hilderbrand.

Jocelyn Prescod/Peacock

*The Five Star Weekend* centers on Garner's Hollis Shaw, a home cook turned food influencer turned Ina Garten-esque TV star and cookbook queen. As she attempts to emerge from her month of grief following the death of her husband, Shaw decides to invite four friends — each from a different stage in her life — to a weekend at her Nantucket home.

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"I could instantly see it as a show," Brunstetter, whose previous projects include *This Is Us* and *Maid*, recently told EW of when she first read Hilderbrand's novel. "I found it to be this incredible combination of lightness and depth, which is really hard to find in a series. I just really believe in TV shows that uplifts but also challenges at the same time."

"I hope that [women] watch it with their girlfriends," Garner added of the new drama. "I hope they feel how much the five of us love them, and get them, and get how much female friendship means to all of us. I wouldn’t be alive..." she adds before a thoughtful pause. "Well, that's too strong of a statement. I would hopefully be *alive*. But I would not be me without my ladies."

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW TV”