Elizabeth Holmes: Who’s playing the Theranos founder in ‘The Dropout’?
Oscar-nominee Amanda Seyfried is announced to play Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes in the highly-anticipated series, The Dropout.
Amanda Seyfried has recently received Academy Award & Golden Globe nominations for her portrayal as Marion Davies in David Fincher’s Netflix movie Mank. The critically acclaimed actress will next be seen starring in her own co-production A Mouthful of Air, directed by Amy Koppelman while starring in another upcoming Netflix thriller, Things Heard & Seen.
With such a tight filming schedule and back-to-back releases, why was Amanda Seyfried suddenly set to star in The Dropout as Thernos’ Elizabeth Holmes? Read on to discover who Seyfried replaced in the long-awaited Hulu production.
Hulu’s The Dropout
The Dropout is a limited Hulu series based on ABC News Radio’s podcast about the rise & fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her once-a-billion-dollar company, Theranos.
The premise of the series follows the real-life tale of Elizabeth Holmes, the prodigal chemical engineering Stanford dropout who founded an entrepreneurial medical testing startup called Theranos. The high-flying tech startup was eventually exposed as “massive fraud”.
Once worth nine billion dollars, Theranos was ultimately the myth that crumbled when it was revealed that the healthcare technology company promising to revolutionize blood testing was fraudulent. While being lauded as the Steve Jobs for the next generation’s technology, Elizabeth Holmes put thousands of people’s health in grave danger by starting Theranos.
Elizabeth Holmes became one of the richest women during the pinnacle of Theranos’s success. However, her scam ended when Holmes was indicted by a federal jury in 2018 along with partner-in-crime, the former Theranos chief operating officer, on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Kate McKinnon’s exit
Initially, Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon was set to play the disgraced, wunderkind entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout and executive produce the series as well.
After sitting with the limited series for close to two years, McKinnon was dropped from the show as sources reported last month that The Dropout team was moving forward without the actress.
While McKinnon is set to play Carole Baskin in NBC Peacock’s Joe Exotic, it’s unclear as to why she was replaced in The Dropout by Amanda Seyfried which was announced at a later date.
Seyfried’s addition
Amanda Seyfried’s addition to The Dropout as the lead protagonist playing the cleverly cunning Elizabeth Holmes and executive producing the show came as a surprise to anticipated fans. Admittedly, Kate McKinnon resembles Holmes a lot more than Seyfried, but maybe if Seyfried nails frazzled facial expressions and a weird, low vocal tone, she could be a convincing Holmes.
Adding to the buzz, news of her casting also comes shortly after Seyfried received an Academy Award & Golden Globe nomination for her role in the David Fincher film Mank. Amanda Seyfried is repped by Innovative Artists, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Selz, and Relevant.
Executive producing The Dropout are showrunners Elizabeth Meriwether, who has been driving the project, Liz Heldens, Liz Hannah, Katherine Pope, Rebecca Jarvis, Victoria Thompson, and Taylor Dunn.
—
According to Deadline, Hulu is “eyeing a summer start” for The Dropout in 2021. We recommend binge-watching Prodigal Son or Solar Opposites on Hulu while waiting for The Dropout’s premiere.
Are you curious about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her billion-dollar story? Let us know in the comments along with your favorite Hulu picks!
