Kate McKinnon Will Star In The Elizabeth Holmes Hulu Series ‘The Dropout’
Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon will be moonlighting on Hulu in a new, limited series about Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of the biotech startup, Theranos. While McKinnon is best known for her work in comedy, she will star in, and executive produce the story of Holmes’ rise and fall with the company, Theranos, which led to her being charged in a criminal trial currently in progress.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show will follow the format of the ABC News podcast of the same name, explaining how Holmes managed to raise “hundreds of millions” to fund a blood testing machine for Theranos, hiding the fact that it never really worked while becoming a hit with the media and numerous power players like Henry Kissinger.
Another story about Theranos is being made into a film starring Jennifer Lawrence, to be based on the book, Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou. A third project, The Inventor, for HBO, made its debut in March.
Kate McKinnon is following fellow SNL cast member Aidy Bryant who stars in the Hulu comedy series, Shrill in their first television projects outside of NBC.
Deadline reports that The Dropout will be in a miniseries format, and is expected to be between six and 10 episodes.
EXCLUSIVE: @hulu orders #TheDropout limited series starring Kate McKinnon as Elizabeth Holmes https://t.co/ck0nLzPXgd
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) April 10, 2019
The description of the podcast gives an idea of what The Dropout on Hulu will cover.
“[The Dropout is] the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is an unbelievable tale of ambition and fame gone terribly wrong. How did the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire lose it all in the blink of an eye? How did the woman once heralded as ‘the next Steve Jobs’ find herself facing criminal charges — to which she pleaded not guilty — and up to 20 years in jail?”
McKinnon is branching out into drama with this project and Danny Boyle’s new film, Yesterday. She has been a full cast member on Saturday Night Live since 2012, and has earned five consecutive Emmy nominations, winning twice.
The Inquisitr reports that McKinnon has been incredibly popular portraying various players in the Trump administration and politics, like Jeff Sessions, Rudy Giuliani, Kellyanne Conway, and Hillary Clinton. Saturday Night Live has had a renewed popularity covering the regular highs and lows of the political climate.
McKinnon regularly appears in the show’s cold open alongside Alec Baldwin, who has been playing Donald Trump since before his win in 2016. Though McKinnon’s role of Sessions died off as he left his position as the Attorney General, she still routinely plays Conway and Giuliani.
