VIDEO: Ben Platt Lunches With Gwyneth Paltrow and Swaps Spit With Bette Midler in ‘The Politician’ Season 2 Trailer

An ambitious, young public servant reaches an ethical crossroads in the Season 2 trailer for “The Politician,” returning to Netflix on June 19.

Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, the campaign dramedy stars Ben Platt as Payton Hobart, an upstart politician who spent Season 1 running for office in high school. Set several years in the future, Season 2 sees Payton taking aim at a seat on the New York State Senate. To get the gig he needs to unseat longtime incumbent Dede Standish (“Who’s the Boss?” star Judith Light), which means taking on her no-nonsense Chief of Staff Hadassah Gold (Bette Midler).

Payton and Dede enter a knock-down, drag-out fight for the State Senate seat, filled with sex, deceit, and every dirty trick in the book. In the trailer (above), Payton consults with friends, colleagues, and his own mother (Gwyneth Paltrow) to decide if abandoning his values is too high a price to pay for obtaining power. At one point, Platt’s character also gets to make out with the much-older Midler, though their romance may all be a part of her devious plan. “Do you know anything about spicy lube?” Midler’s character asks an underling. “I need you to get me some. We’re going to call this Operation Spicy Lube.”

“The Politician” co-stars Zoey Deutsch, Lucy Boynton, Laura Dreyfuss, Ryan Haddad, and Jackie Hoffman with Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennan producing alongside Alexis Martin Woodall, Platt, and Paltrow, who also happens to be Falchuk’s wife.

When Gwyneth sat down with Howard in 2018, she opened up about everything from her relationship with Falchuk to her breakup with the father of her two children, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Listen to a clip from her sit-down with Howard (below).

“The Politician” Season 2 debuts June 19 to Netflix.