8 Shows And Movies With Female Presidents to Distract You From Reality

After the 2024 Presidential election, we knew a second Trump term would be coming. Many young women were hoping for the first female President but instead, in the early days of 2025, President Donald Trump’s second residency in the White House is upon us.

Within his first week of office, he’s already signed numerous executive orders, some of which limit women’s reproductive rights. But instead of living in the reality of it, we want to go back to the fantasy of a woman in America’s highest office.

Even though America hasn’t quite progressed to the point of a woman taking over the Presidency, several television shows and movies have imagined a world in which that does happen. From comedies to dystopian works of fiction, these female Presidents are giving us the exact dose of escapism we need in 2025.

Veep — Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selena Meyer

After starring as the quirky Elaine in Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus takes on a more significant role as the Vice President of the United States in a satirical, but reportedly honest, look at the inner workings of the White House. While Julia’s Selena Meyer isn’t our ideal President — she’s selfish, willing to do whatever it takes for power, and pretty unlikable. But she’s also witty, charismatic, and fun to watch, so it’s still way more enjoyable than the news.

Don’t Look Up — Meryl Streep as Janie Orlean

Adam McKay was inspired by our “fake news” administration the first time around, so he created a world in which politics dictate science in the face of an impending apocalypse. Luckily, he perfectly cast the President with Meryl Streep, who brought the perfect amount of comedy to a scarily realistic situation. Her comedic timing in finding ways to twist the truth into what people want to hear was both a scathing and hilarious interpretation of Trump with the fashion sense of Hillary. 

Scandal — Bellamy Young as Melody “Mellie” Grant

In the alternate universe of Scandal, Bellamy Young plays the 45th President of the United States instead of America’s actual elected 45th. Like Hillary Clinton, she was a Senator in her own right married to a President, although her story went in a different direction. After she and her husband, the 44th President of the United States, divorce, she wins a Senator’s seat and begins her upward trajectory to the Presidency. In a race in which her male opponent is assassinated, she becomes President-Elect by default, and then America’s first female President. She runs the country alongside Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope, who she appoints as the Chief-of-Staff in this more feminist alternate reality.

Kisses for My President — Polly Bergen as Leslie McCloud

In the 1964 comedy starring Polly Bergen as a theoretical female President, Leslie McCloud, the idea of a woman as President is seen as laughable. Fred MacCurray plays an unsupportive husband named Thad who has to fit into the mold of the “First Lady.” The film is more about Thad’s antics as he interacts with a dictator, is the subject of his former flame’s seduction, and becomes part of a Cold War subplot. Even still, while the idea of a female President is played for jokes, at least one New York Times critic was enraged by the director’s “dim view of the prospect of a woman as President.”

For All Mankind — Jodi Balfour as Ellen Wilson

In Apple TV Plus’s science fiction drama, For All Mankind, an alternate past gives us the first female (and gay) President in 1992. In the show’s earlier seasons, she works for NASA, breaking the glass ceiling off the bat. But as her career progresses, she rises up to the rank of the President of the United States. Reflecting on portraying President Ellen Wilson, Jodi Balfour wrote in The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m not suggesting that a female president in the 1990s would have been a cure-all for patriarchy and the abuse of power. But I can’t help but wonder: If an out gay woman had been the face, voice and symbol of the free world, would we now be living in a much more equitable, diverse, accepting time?”

The Purge: Election Year — Elizabeth Mitchell as Charlie Roan

The third installment in the The Purge franchise, Election Year follows Senator Charlie Roan as she runs for President on a platform to end the Purge nights in 2040. However, the opposition see her as a threat so they end politicians’ Purge immunity hoping that she’ll be purged. Luckily for us, however, by the end, Charlie is elected President in a landslide victory, marking the first time the world of The Purge seemed better than reality.

Diary of a Future President — Tess Romero and Gina Rodriguez as Elena Cañero-Reed

After Biden won the Presidential election in 2020, Disney+ decided to stand up for women’s rights and give us a positive representation of a woman in the Oval Office. Produced by Gina Rodriguez, Diary of a Future President follows the 13-year-old Elena who wants to become President. In flash-forwards, we learn that her dreams become a reality, so it shows us a bright-eyed and hopeful future in which a girl aspiring to be President can make it come true! It has the classic Disney touch of magic, but unfortunately in a cost-cutting initiative, it was removed from Disney+.

Long Shot — Charlize Theron as Charlotte Field

An unexpectedly enjoyable rom-com starring Charlize Theron and Seth Rogan, Long Shot gives us an accurate, if not rosy and romantic, depiction of a single woman in office. While a married woman can’t even be elected President in 2024, Long Shot shows us a powerful, charismatic female leader who hits it off with her witty speech writer. Complete with atypical power dynamics and a fish-out-of-water plotline, Long Shot shows a funny and optimistic look at American politics.