Kate McKinnon is best known for her all-star performances onSaturday Night Liveas well as turns in comedies likeGhostbusters,Rough Night, andThe Spy Who DumpedMe, but there’s nothing funny about her next role. The comedian will play former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who wasindicted by a federal grand juryfor fraud in 2018, in a limited series for Hulu,Deadlinereports.
The Dropout, which is based onthe podcastof the same name, will chronicle Holmes’ transformation from a 19-year-old science prodigy to the CEO of her own health technology company, as well as her fall from grace when journalists and regulators began to question Theranos’ legitimacy. McKinnon will co-produce the series alongside ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis, who createdThe Dropout, and producers Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson. The series is expected to run for six to 10 episodes.
Holmes dropped out of Stanford in 2004 and used her tuition money to found Theranos, which promised to revolutionize blood testing technology. By 2014, Holmes had raised more than $400 million in venture capital funding, and Theranos, which had signed a lucrative deal with Walgreens, was valued at $9 billion.
Things quickly unraveled in 2015, however, when the Wall Street Journal published an article claiming that Theranos’ signature blood-testing device, which could allegedly derive low-cost blood tests from small drops of blood, wasn’t as reliable as the company claimed.
Meanwhile, Holmes’ personal behavior, which she modeled after her idol Steve Jobs, grew increasingly bizarre. Eventually, federal investigators got involved, theWalgreens deal fell apart, and Theranos ultimately folded. Holmes now faces up to 20 years in prison for defrauding investors and providing inaccurate medical results. Holmes pled innocent, and the trial is still ongoing.
The Theranos saga is an interesting story, which is probably why Hollywood seems so eager to adapt it. In addition to the upcoming McKinnon series,The Dropoutwas reimagined as a two-hour documentary that aired on20/20in March, whileJennifer LawrenceandVicedirector Adam McKay are collaborating on a big-screen retelling of Holmes’ story with the titleBad Blood. And if those are hits? Well, there are plenty of otherSilicon Valley horror storiesfor Hollywood to choose from.
