Ryan Murphy and Sarah Paulson get a two-season Cuckoo's Nest prequel at Netflix

By Sam Barsanti | September 7, 2017 | 12:59am

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As reported by Deadline, Netflix has give a straight-to-series, two season order to Ratched, a new drama series from Ryan Murphy. The show is going to be a prequel to One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest that focuses on the prickly Nurse Ratched (played by Oscar winner Louise Fletcher in the film), with Sarah Paulson starring as Ratched herself. The story will begin in 1947 and follow Ratched’s path from “nurse to full-fledged monster,” and it will “track her murderous progression through the mental health care system.” That makes it sound a bit like Breaking Bad, but with one of those paper nurse hats instead of a pork pie.

Ratched will be executive produced by Murphy and original Cuckoo’s Nest movie producer Michael Douglas, and the script was written by a newcomer named Evan Romansky who came up with the idea “fresh out of film school.” That script somehow got to Murphy, who took it to Paulson, and the two of them then went about getting the rights to the Nurse Ratched character. Production is set to begin at some point in mid-2018, with Murphy directing the premiere.