As Randle Patrick McMurphy, Jack Nicholson was the headliner of the legendary 1975 film One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. But its the person he's facing off with in that film—Nurse Ratched, as played by Louise Fletcher—who got the accolades. Nurse Ratched is considered the #5 villain of all time by the American Film Institute (ranking just behind The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz and a few spots ahead of Michael Corleone from The Godfather), and now a new prequel series, titled Ratched, explores how she got to be the way she is in the beloved film (which, by the way, is now streaming on Netflix).
The series is the latest Netflix offering from Ryan Murphy, following The Politician and Hollywood, and headed in a different direction from those—more toward his American Horror Story and American Crime Story roots with a dark, grisly story. Sarah Paulson leads the cast as the titular character, and familiar faces such as Sharon Stone, Cynthia Nixon, Finn Wittrock, Jon Jon Briones, Vincent D'Onofrio and Corey Stoll are all along for the ride attempting to rewrite the origin for the character who first appeared in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which was first published in 1963.
The show's first season is 8 episodes, all of which are just under an hour. Like most shows developed under Murphy's umbrella, a plot that starts off grounded enough eventually finds its way toward a big, extravagant ending. And once you've burned through those 8 episodes, you'll probably be wondering if/when a second season is on the way.
Will there be a Season 2 of Ratched?
There should be. Back in 2017, Ratched was the first series that Netflix ordered from Murphy (before signing him to a $300 million deal in 2018); the streaming giant ordered 2 seasons and 18 episodes right off the bat, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That being said, the season being ordered initially doesn't necessarily mean that Netflix will follow through on production. COVID-19 has threw a wrench into things, clearly, and that's carried over to the television world as well. Netflix had been planning on second seasons for original series The Society and I Am Not Okay With This, according to Deadline, but due to COVID-related circumstances, ended up reversing those decisions. This has happened elsewhere around the TV landscape, including Comedy Central's Drunk History (which had already filmed episodes) and just this week with ABC reversing its decision on the Cobie Smulders/Jake Johnson dramedy Stumptown.
That being said, the star of the show seems to know for sure that the show has a plan. "We have an end game. There's an end to the story as we know it, culturally," Sarah Paulson, who plays Nurse Ratched, said in an interview with OprahMag.com. "But so little is known about Mildred Ratched in the movie and the book. There's nothing about her past. She's a monolith. It's almost like she's not really a person."
When will Season 2 of Ratched be released?
That's a much harder question to answer. While many shows have resumed production following a long COVID-19-induced delay, it's still hard to tell where any shows are in their production level. Shows on a network schedule, like Riverdale, have recently gone into production with health precautions and can be expected to return within relatively short order. Shows like those on Netflix, HBO, Hulu. etc. can be much more difficult, especially considering the fact that we don't know where the show is in pre-production.
We'll just have to patiently wait for more news. If the show does get renewed for a second season, it could be a long wait until it actually returns to your screen.
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.
