Ryan Murphy and Sarah Paulson reveal cast for Netflix series Ratched
Sarah Paulson is a producer on Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series Ratched. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty for The Critics’ Choice Awards)
Actor Sarah Paulson and filmmaker Ryan Murphy are working together on the new Netflix series Ratched and they have surrounded themselves with a star-studded cast.
Ratched is dubbed as a prequel to One Flew Over the Cockoo’s Nest, exploring the life of Nurse Ratched and her journey from a typical nurse to the cold, tyrannical figure in the Ken Kesey novel and its 1975 cinematic adaptation.
Paulson is due to play the title character Nurse Ratched, first portrayed on the big screen by Louise Fletcher.
Netflix has commissioned a total 18 episodes for the two-season series, which is due to begin its timeline in 1947.
Sarah Paulson and Ryan Murphy have worked together on a number of award-winning projects. Will the new Netflix series Ratched rack up more prizes for them? (Emma McIntyre/Getty)
Like Paulson, Murphy has long been associated with the project, but he has now revealed more information about who will star in the series as shooting is due to start shortly.
“‘RATCHED’ on Netflix starts shooting in a couple weeks. On behalf of myself and Ms. Sarah Catharine Paulson who plays the title role and is also a big fancy producer on it, we are thrilled to announce our amazing cast…a true murderers’ row of talent,” Murphy wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday (January 15).
He added: “So many of these actors are supremely talented folks who Sarah and I have both longed to work with.”
Who are the LGBT+ actors in Ratched?
Besides Paulson, who has been in a relationship with fellow actor Holland Taylor since 2015, Murphy’s cast includes some of his longtime collaborators, rising and established stars, and two other openly LGBT+ actors.
“The Ratched Principal Players, in alphabetical order: JON JON BRIONES, CHARLIE CARVER, JUDY DAVIS, HARRIET HARRIS, CYNTHIA NIXON, HUNTER PARRISH, AMANDA PLUMMER, COREY STOLL, SHARON STONE AND FINN WITTROCK,” Murphy announced on Instagram, presumable using all caps to convey his enthusiasm.
“More to come, but come on… Sarah, Cynthia, Judy, Amanda and Sharon, all doing scenes together? I cannot WAIT,” he added.
Ratched will be one of the first projects post-electoral campaign for Nixon, who lost her challenge to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in September.
To all the young people. To all the young women. To all the young queer people who reject the gender binary.
Soon you’ll be running for office yourselves, and when it’s your turn, you’ll win. pic.twitter.com/DwbU4XRieG
— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) September 14, 2018
The LGBT+ actor, best known for her role as Miranda Hobbs in Sex and The City, gave a powerful concession speech in which she addressed her younger supporters. “To all the young people. To all the young women. To all the young queer people who reject the gender binary. Soon you’ll be running for office yourselves, and when it’s your turn, you’ll win,” she wrote.
Murphy, too, has often taken political stances, announcing in December the launch of a fund which would target anti-LGBT+ candidates running in congressional races in 2020.
Also in the Ratched cast is Charlie Carver, who has starred in Teen Wolf and Desperate Housewives and came out as gay in 2016.
