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Kate McKinnon to Star as Disgraced Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes in New Hulu Series ‘The Dropout’

In one of the most genius casting decisions ever made, Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon will portray the former CEO of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, on Hulu’s new series, The Dropout.

Break out the Steve Jobs–knockoff turtlenecks, because we’re in for one helluva ride. The show will be based on the podcast of the same name by ABC reporter Rebecca Jarvis, Deadline reports. McKinnon is set to star as the disgraced founder of now-dissolved Theranos, a blood-testing company that was billed as “revolutionary” for its pin-prick blood-drawing procedure.

Holmes and Theranos are everywhere right now: The book and Jennifer Lawrence–starring movie Bad Blood and an HBO documentary The Inventor are centered around the scandal about Holmes’s career after she dropped out of Stanford to found Theranos at just 19 years old. Holmes is currently facing up to 20 years in prison for defrauding investors, who gave nearly $800 million to Holmes and her Silicon Valley company before it was shut down in September 2018.

The Hulu series will be about six to ten episodes long, and McKinnon and Jarvis will both executive produce the show as well.

Here’s the podcast’s description: “The story of Elizabeth Holmes and 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?”

Yep, Hulu’s out for blood. (And we’re SO excited to see McKinnon’s fake-deep-voice impression.)

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Director, Branded Content + Cohost, Royally Obsessed Podcast

As Director of Branded Content at Gallery Media Group, Roberta helps oversee the ideation and execution of sponsored content and experiential campaigns across PureWow and ONE37pm...