Kate McKinnon is undoubtedly best known for her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live, where she proved there's no comedic character out of her wheelhouse. She also made a name for herself in big screen comedies, like Ghostbusters and The Spy Who Dumped Me. Now, however, McKinnon is branching out with a new TV project that few of her fans probably saw coming. She's getting dramatic for Hulu.
Yes, Kate McKinnon has signed on to star in a drama series for the streamer, called The Dropout, and she'll be playing none other than Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos fame. Or infamy, as the case may be. McKinnon will tackle the role of the wunderkind-turned-disgraced entrepreneur in a turn that presumably won't see her wearing goofy wigs and going for laughs.
Now, The Dropout likely getting a series order from Hulu doesn't mean that you need to worry Kate McKinnon is bailing on Saturday Night Live. The Dropout will be a limited drama series, and Deadline reports it is expected to run for between 6 and 10 episodes. McKinnon is on board as executive producer as well as leading lady. The show will be based on the ABC News/ABC Radio podcast about Elizabeth Holmes and the rise and fall of her company.
Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos were recently examined on the small screen for an HBO documentary, although Holmes herself did not appear in it. The adaptation for Hulu will actually be based on The Dropout podcast, which launched toward the end of January, then was turned into a two-hour documentary of 20/20 in March.
The name of the show and podcast comes from the fact that Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of Stanford, where she had been pursuing chemical engineering, to launch a technology company that would purportedly change the world of blood testing. Well, Holmes and Theranos did change the world, but the company didn't do what it promised.
Theranos was ultimately exposed as a fraud, and Elizabeth Holmes was indicted on multiple charges of wire fraud, as well as two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud due to the distribution of blood tests with false results. Maybe Holmes shouldn't have dropped out of Stanford!
Interestingly, Kate McKinnon isn't the only SNL actress to move to Hulu for a leading role on a new show. Aidy Bryant left SNL and debuted as leading lady of Shrill on Hulu, with is both touching and hilariously relatable. (You can read our review here.)
Kate McKinnon hasn't said anything about leaving Saturday Night Live, so the odds are that she'll work on The Dropout on top of SNL rather than instead of it. TV should showcase both comedic and dramatic Kate McKinnon, even if she does still worry about impressions!
For now, you can find Kate McKinnon on the small screen in new episodes of Saturday Night Live on Saturdays at 11:29 p.m. ET on NBC. The ratings for SNL haven't been shabby, and McKinnon is a big draw for the show, so hopefully fans can count on her remaining on the NBC mainstay for the long haul, even if not quite as long as Kenan Thompson.
