Hulu is finalizing a deal for the original limited series The Dropout starring two-time Emmy winner Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live). An episode order is not set but is expected to be between six and ten episodes.
Based on the ABC News/ABC Radio podcast, McKinnon will play the disgraced wunderkind tech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes.
The story of Elizabeth Holmes and her company 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? How did her technology, meant to revolutionize healthcare, potentially put millions of patients at risk? And how did so many smart people get it so wrong along the way?
McKinnon will executive produce with the ABC News trio behind the podcast: host Rebecca Jarvis and producers Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson. Fox Searchlight's year-old television division will produce the series - its first project so far.
The podcast was previously adapted into a two-hour 20/20 special on ABC. The Elizabeth Holmes story was also the subject of John Carreyrou's book Bad Blood - which is being adapted into a film to be directed by Adam McKay and starring Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence - as well as the HBO documentary The Inventor, which premiered in March.
