HBO Max is moving forward with How to Survive Without Me, giving Greg Berlanti’s family drama a 15-episode series order following its pilot.
The new one-hour drama has a large ensemble cast led by Ray Romano, Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson and Rita Wilson. Berlanti executive produces and co-wrote the pilot with Bash Doran, with Warner Bros. Television serving as the studio.
How to Survive Without Me Follows the De Angelis Family After a Loss
How to Survive Without Me centers on the De Angelis family following the death of their matriarch, Beverly.
Her family has started to drift apart as they try to deal with their changing lives without her. Beverly, however, prepared something for them before her death. If the family wants to experience her final work, they’ll have to keep making time for each other and stay connected as their lives continue to change.
Romano plays the family’s patriarch, while Rita Wilson plays Beverly, the deceased matriarch at the center of the story.
Cuoco and Jackson are also part of the De Angelis family, alongside Julia Schlaepfer, Jack Ball, Kylar Miranda, Julian Grey, Scarlett Abinante, Tommy Dewey, Matthew Kellison, Colette Porch and Ella Rubin.
Wilson rounds out the series regular cast.
Guest stars include Dar Zuzovsky, Genevieve Angelson, Joe Romano, Katie Aselton, Katie Monds, Kevin Changaris, Pressley Hosbach, Richard Blackmon, Sofía Rodríguez-Toymil and Will Yun Lee.
Greg Berlanti Calls the Series His Most Personal Work in Years
The project marks a return to family drama for Berlanti, who said his first series was also in the genre and was picked up almost exactly 25 years ago.
Berlanti said that returning to this kind of storytelling has been “incredibly emotional,” particularly because he created the series with Bash Doran and his husband, Robbie Rogers, drawing from their own families’ experiences with love and loss.
“To also co-create it with Bash and my husband, Robbie, and draw from our own families’ experiences of love and loss has made the whole show the most personal thing I’ve worked on in years,” Berlanti said in a statement accompanying the series order.
Sarah Aubrey, Head of HBO Max Original Programming, highlighted the show’s ensemble in the announcement, calling Romano, Cuoco, Jackson and Wilson a “dream cast” for the story.
Who Is Behind How to Survive Without Me?
Berlanti and Doran wrote the pilot, with the story credited to Berlanti, Doran and Rogers.
Berlanti executive produces alongside Sarah Schechter, Leigh London Redman and Rogers through Berlanti Productions and its overall deal with Warner Bros. Television. Doran, Ryan O’Connell and Daniel Minahan also executive produce, with Minahan directing.
Warner Bros. Television is the studio.