‘American Crime Story: Katrina’ Sets New Source Material, Sarah Paulson Still Attache

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“American Crime Story: Katrina” is moving forward with new source material and a major cast overhaul, Variety has confirmed.
The planned third season of the Ryan Murphy FX anthology series will now be based on the book “Five Days at Memorial” by Sheri Fink. Scott Rudin, who previously acquired the rights to the book, will now join “Katrina” as an executive producer alongside Murphy, Brad Simpson, and Nina Jacobson. Fink is also expected to be involved in the project. The season was originally to be based on the book “The Great Deluge” by Douglas Brinkley.
“Five Days at Memorial” chronicles the real-life aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, focusing on the Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. The center was left without power for days after the epic storm, which led to hospital staff euthanizing almost two dozen terminally ill patients. Dr. Anna Pou and two ICU nurses were ultimately charged with second-degree murder for the deaths of patients who were identified as having lethal levels of morphine in their systems.
In a major casting shakeup, most of the main cast of the season are not expected to appear given the new source material, with only frequent Murphy collaborator Sarah Paulson remaining attached to play Pou. Originally, the cast included Annette Bening, Matthew Broderick, and Dennis Quaid.
The Hurricane Katrina story was originally supposed to be the follow up to the critically acclaimed Season 1–“People v O.J. Simpson–but that plotline has been bumped to Season 3. Season 2 will now focus on the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace. Season 4 will explore the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewisnky scandal. Production on “Versace” began this past April and is slated to debut in early 2018.

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