Film fans often debate the necessity of a prequel film or TV series. Often, prequels serve only to shine a light on mysteries that should have remained in the dark. Those answers to questions you might have had about a character are rarely more interesting than the mystery about what makes someone tick. Ryan Murphy hopes that film fans will give his new prequel series, “Ratched,” a chance, even though it would appear from the newest trailer that the Netflix series is going to give audiences a lot of answers about an iconic character that we maybe didn’t need.
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“Ratched” is the prequel to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and gives us the backstory for Nurse Ratched, one of the most legendary antagonists in film (and fiction, in general) history. Do you want to know what turned Nurse Ratched from a typical nurse to a psychopath? Or does it make it better to know that she was always a bit…nuts? We’ll find out soon enough.
Official synopsis:
From Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, RATCHED is a suspenseful drama series that tells the origin story of asylum nurse Mildred Ratched. In 1947, Mildred arrives in Northern California to seek employment at a leading psychiatric hospital where new and unsettling experiments have begun on the human mind. On a clandestine mission, Mildred presents herself as the perfect image of what a dedicated nurse should be, but the wheels are always turning and as she begins to infiltrate the mental health care system and those within it, Mildred’s stylish exterior belies a growing darkness that has long been smoldering within, revealing that true monsters are made, not born.
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The cast is huge and the series stars Sarah Paulson as Mildred Ratched, Cynthia Nixon as Gwendolyn Briggs, Judy Davis as Nurse Betsy Bucket, Sharon Stone as Lenore Osgood, Jon Jon Briones as Dr. Richard Hanover, Finn Wittrock as Edmund Tolleson, Charlie Carver as Huck, Alice Englert as Dolly, Amanda Plummer as Louise, Sophie Okonedo as Charlotte Wells, Corey Stoll as Charles Wainwright, Brandon Flynn as Henry Osgood, Annie Starke as Lily Cartwright, and Vincent D’Onofrio as Gov. George Wilburn.
As was mentioned above (and as is evident from the hyper-stylized look of the show), “Ratched” is executive produced by Ryan Murphy, who is best known for series such as “American Horror Story,” “American Crime Story,” and the Netflix series, “The Politician.”
“Ratched” premieres on Netflix on September 18. Watch the final trailer below.