Kara Buono has joined Hulu’s “Southern Bastards” pilot as a recurring role, Variety exclusively reports.
She will star opposite stars Kevin Bacon, Erin Kellyman, and Tim McGraw, as well as co-stars Jonathan Tucker, Amin Joseph, Ethan Sapri, Derek Luke, and Aounjanou Ellis-Taylor. The exact details about Buono’s character are being kept secret.
Southern Bastards is based on the graphic novel of the same name. The pilot aired on Hulu in October 2025. The official logline says the show “follows a tenacious military veteran (Kellyman) to Crow County, Alabama, in search of her estranged father (Bacon). What she discovers is a hornet’s nest of violent organized crime run by the South’s most winning high school football coach (McGraw).”
Buono just starred as Karen Wheeler in the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things,” which aired its fifth and final season in late 2025. Buono appeared in all five seasons of the show, which ranks as one of the most-watched Netflix shows of all time.
In addition to Stranger Things, Buono played Dr. Faye Miller on Mad Men, for which she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama in 2011. She is also known for her work on shows such as “The Sopranos,” “Person of Interest,” and “The Plainville Girl.” On the film side, Buono has appeared in films such as Raynaldo Marcus Green’s Monsters and Men, and he will also direct the pilot for Southern Bastards.
She is repped by CESD and Skrzyniarz & Mallean.
Bill Dubuque and Nia DaCosta are credited with a joint story on Southern Bastards, with Dubuque writing and executive producing the television drama. Matt Olmsted will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Green will direct and executive produce the pilot.
Based on the graphic novel, Jason Aaron and Jason Latour will serve as executive producers. POV Entertainment’s Layne Eskridge also serves as executive producer along with Proximity Media and Green’s Ryan Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler. Proximity’s Simone Harris and POV’s Kate Berry will serve as co-executive producers. Proximity Media creative executives Hannah Baker and D’Angelo Louis will also oversee the project. This series is produced in conjunction with The Fifth Season.
