American Crime Story started its first season with a compelling, ambitious look at the O.J. Simpson trial, and the second season is somehow even more ambitious. It’ll be tackling the strike and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, easily one of the biggest domestic crises in recent American history. The scope and scale is so ambitious the series will air out of order: The third season, about the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace, is further along in production, though FX insists the Katrina season will air first.
Still, Katrina is continuing apace, and it just landed a major casting coup. Annette Bening will be playing governor Kathleen Blanco, the first woman elected to the role in Louisana. Blanco spent so much time struggling with the fallout of Katrina, and Hurricane Rita, which arrived less than a month later, that she ultimately chose not to pursue a second term. It should be noted that anybody would be burned out, as Katrina and Rita destroyed 200,000 homes between them, closed 81,000 businesses, and destroyed crucial infrastructure.
As to when we’ll see Bening and her (so-far unannounced) co-stars, it appears that remains unannounced, though 2018 looks likely. It’ll be interesting to see where the show falls, considering the outcry over government failure at the time. With luck, we’ll have Travolta as Bush, if nothing else.
