Netflix’s Ratched: Ryan Murphy assembles a star-studded cast

With production on Netflix’s first Ryan Murphy original, Ratched, about to begin in a few weeks, Murphy has released the list of stars who will fill out the principal cast alongside Sarah Paulson in the titular role.

Early last year, Ryan Murphy inked an overall 5-year deal with Netflix to create exclusive content for the streaming giant according to Forbes. The first project announced was an origin story about the viciously iconic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s antagonist, Nurse Ratched with Sarah Paulson attached to star.

Since then, information about Ratched has been scarce but now, with the project to begin shooting within the next month, Murphy has released the list of the entire principal cast through an Instagram post: Jon Briones (American Crime Story), Charlie Carver (Teen Wolf) Judy Davis (Feud), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Hunter Parrish (The Following), Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction), Cory Stoll (Ant-Man), Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct), and Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story).

As you can see, a majority of these actors have worked with Ryan Murphy on previous projects. He tends to pluck from the same pool. Sarah Paulson alone has worked with Murphy on several different television series.

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Most notable from this list is heavyweight actresses Sharon Stone and Judy Davis who have been around for years and reaped the awards and notoriety. They’ll join other acclaimed actresses from Murphy’s world like Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, and Jessica Lange.

Murphy has never had an issue securing mega-watt talent for his projects, even all the way back in his early days of Nip/Tuck and Glee he was still securing award-winning performers, often in outlandish, ludicrous o even self-parodic roles. The epic casts are a big draw for many to his multitude of television series.

In Murphy’s instagram post (where he made his announcement) he also mentioned, “Sarah, Cynthia, Judy, Amanda and Sharon, all doing scenes together? I cannot WAIT.”

That sentence alone is enough to make me extremely hyped for the series. Seeing all of those women act against each other? Count me in.

The series will be set in the late 1940s and supposedly be about the origins of Nurse Ratched so it’s unclear if we will see other Cuckoo’s Nest tie-ins but I imagine there will be some Easter eggs or subtle shutouts to the classic story.

Currently, you can catch Sarah Paulson starring in M. Night Shymalan’s Glass, now playing nationwide. Check your local theater for listings. 

Are you excited for Ratched? Do you think Nurse Ratched is a good villain? While we’re all in Ratched’s waiting room, let us know your thoughts pre-exam in the comments!