Wherever Kate McKinnon is right now, shes probably warming up her deepest, most authoritative voice—because in her newest project, shell be playing none other than fallen tech wunderkind Elizabeth Holmes. According to Deadline, Hulus The Dropout will find McKinnon at the center of a series depicting the Icarus-like rise and fall of Theranos and its would-be blood goddess—a project that, when considered next to some of the platforms other recent programs, seems to prove that the streamer has cracked the formula for creating the kinds of watercooler TV programming thats increasingly hard to cultivate.
The series, according to Deadline, is expected to run for 6 to 10 episodes, and is based on the ABC News/ABC Radio podcast of the same name. (ABC later converted the podcast into a two-hour documentary that aired on 20/20, as Deadline notes.) McKinnon will both star and executive produce alongside ABC News Rebecca Jarvis. ABC Newss Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson will also be on hand to produce. Considering this news, it seems safe to assume that right about now, Adam McKay is wishing hed been able to get the gears turning on his own Theranos-inspired project, Bad Blood, sooner. (That film project, which has Jennifer Lawrence attached to play Holmes, is apparently still in the works as well.)
McKinnon is the latest S.N.L. player to join Hulus stable of performers, following Aidy Bryant, who debuted her own series, Shrill, in March. That project, along with other hits like The Handmaids Tale—at least in its first season—and The Act, as well as the upcoming Veronica Mars and Catch-22, seem to indicate that Hulu is finding its groove in an ever-cluttered market. While it may not be able to outmatch Netflix in volume, Hulu is becoming increasingly shrewd at finding projects that draw on timely or culturally relevant I.P.
The Dropout is also a coup for Fox Searchlights TV division; it is, as Deadline notes, the outfits first series order. Fox first unveiled its new shingle a year ago, and has since announced projects with such names attached as Alex Garland, Darren Aronofsky, Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Rock, Keira Knightley, and Yorgos Lanthimos. With McKinnon now on that list as well, things are looking even better.
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