FX is having its moment at the 2017 Television Critics Association press tour, though as Uproxx’s Alan Sepinwall is finding out, audiences must wait even longer for some of their favorite shows to return. Chief among them are the next two entries in Ryan Murphy’s hugely successful anthology series American Crime Story, which tackled the O.J. Simpson murder trial in its first season. The next two seasons are slated to feature stories pertaining to Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the murder of iconic fashion designer Gianni Versace in 1997.
As FX President John Landgraf revealed on Thursday, however, the Katrina-focused second season won’t air until sometime in 2018. The third season’s Versace-centric story will follow shortly after that despite the fact that it will film first. “They’re going to air within six months of each other,” Landgraf explained. “We’ll have a long hiatus, and then we’ll kind of get back on cycle.”
As for why the Katrina season is taking so long to start production, everyone’s go-to network executive for all things Peak TV chocked it up to “material”:
“We had developed People v OJ Simpson, and had material in really good shape and ready to go. Ryan stepped in and was important in finishing the material, [but] we have high ambitions for this series. It’s not a lurid true crime re-enactment series. It’s just taking its time to get material you’re happy with. And also, when you’re shooting in New Orleans, you have to worry about hurricanes.”
As a result, Landgraf declared “Versace will shoot first” and “Katrina second,” but concluded, “Katrina will air [before Versace].” Until then, everyone will just have to dream about what a potential John Travolta performance as former President George W. Bush would look like.