Ryan Murphy To Produce Netflix’s Nurse Ratched Prequel

The infamously wicked nurse from the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is receiving her own origin story to debut on Netflix. The prequel, titled Ratched, will consist of 18 episodes split into two seasons. The series begins in 1947 and follows Nurse Ratched as she transitions from low-level nurse into the manipulative and horrific tyrant known for terrorizing patients at a mental institution in Oregon.

Ryan Murphy, the mastermind producer behind acclaimed shows such as American Horror Story, Glee and American Crime Story, will produce the series. Sarah Paulson, who won an Emmy for her portrayal of Marcia Clark in 2016’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, will star as Nurse Ratched. This isn’t Paulson’s first time in a mental institution, the actress starred as reporter Lana Williams in the second season of Murphy’s anthology series, American Horror Story: Asylum.

Michael Douglas will serve as executive producer alongside Murphy. Douglas was the producer of the 1975 film which won the Oscar for Best Picture the following year. The film, adapted from Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, starred Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched and Jack Nicholson as R.P. Murphy, a psychiatric patient at Oregon psych hospital. Both Fletcher and Nicholson won Oscars for their roles in the film.

In addition to producing the series, Murphy is also set to direct the first episode. Newcomer and recent film school graduate Evan Romansky created and wrote the script. Ratched marks the first Netflix series for Murphy, whose shows are usually seen on networks such as FX and Fox. The series represents another major talent grab for the streaming service, which just signed deals with Shonda Rhimes, Ava DuVernay and Damien Chazelle.

Production for Ratched is scheduled to begin next year. A premiere date has not yet been set for the series.