Landry Bender Takes on Sara in 'Looking for Alaska' Hulu Series

Looking for Alaska is arguably the book author John Green is most famous for. It was the first book he sold the movie rights to, long before The Fault in Our Stars hit screens (and our hearts), but he's been in a battle since he sold the rights to make sure whatever was created for the book, it did justice to the characters his fans loved so much. 

And now, years after the initial talks of a Looking for Alaska movie, Hulu has produced a short series based on the book.

The series, which premiered on Oct. 18, is an eight-episode series following the plot of the book. One of the cast members we're all excited to learn more about is Landry Bender, who plays Sara on the show.

In the novel, Sara is first introduced as The Colonel's girlfriend. The Colonel, whose real name is Chip Martin, is Miles' roommate. Sara and The Colonel don't get along — like at all. And this is noticed really early on in the book.

The Colonel talks to Miles about his relationship with Sara, and tells him "We never got along. […] I guess I stay with her because she stays with me. And that's not an easy thing to do. I'm a bad boyfriend. She's a bad girlfriend. We deserve each other."

Sara is also a member of the Weekday Warriors, a group of rich kids who get to leave the boarding school on weekends and go back to their cushy lives. The Weekday Warriors aren't great characters, and in the beginning, they throw Miles in the lake.

As the story progresses, Sara and The Colonel end up breaking up — dramatically.

Landry is a former Disney Channel star. You've seen her in Disney XD's Crash and Bernstein as Cleo Bernstein and in Disney's Best Friends Whenever as Cyd Ripley.

While Sara is only a minor character in John Green's novel, the Hulu series is expanding on her character, giving her more of a story — and Landry more screen time.

In an interview with PopSugar, Landry talked about how she had originally auditioned for two different characters on the show, Alaska and Lara. When she didn't land either role, the casting director called her in, asking her to read for Sara because they "really want to expand on" her character.

According to the interview, they really gave Landry's character a chance to expand.

"As the episodes go along you see her flaws but also her depth, and the things that make her up, and the fact that the way she was raised impacts how she treats other people," she said in the interview. "I was grateful that our producers wrote to that, and added more, and gave me the opportunity to expand on the kind of one-dimensional-ness of her character."

She also says that the series expands more on Sara and The Colonel's relationship, to show how the two really cared about each other. Overall, it sounds like the changes are giving the original story a whole new light.

You can watch Looking for Alaska on Hulu.