In 2020, Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story) created his first television episode for streaming services with Ratched (READ OUR REVIEW).
The series is a prequel to the classic movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which was itself based on the 1962 Ken Kesey novel of the same name.
The first season debuted on Netflix on September 18 with eight episodes as Nurse Ratched, the cruel nurse from the original movie, gets her start in the mental health industry.
Here is everything we know so far about Ratched Season 2.
This article provides everything that is known about Ratched Season 2 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s dig down into what is known so far.
Is there going to be a Season 2 of Ratched?
Netflix is not only bringing viewers the second season of Ratched, but they planned this before the first season ever hit the streaming service.
When IndieWire reported that Ryan Murphy was bringing the story of Nurse Ratched to the small screen, it was reported that Netflix ordered it for two seasons and 16 episodes.
This was Murphy’s first streaming series, following his work on Fox and FX. Most recently, Murphy worked on American Horror Story, American Crime Story, 9-1-1, Feud, and Pose.
Release date latest: When does Ratched Season 2 come out?
There is no word yet on the Ratched Season 2 release date. With the coronavirus pandemic shutting things down, it will take longer than expected, that is for sure.
The idea now is that if the production can get underway soon, Ratched Season 2 could arrive late in 2021.
Ratched Season 2 cast updates
Based on how Ratched Season 1 ended, expect some of the key cast members from that season to return for the second.
Sarah Paulson will be back as Nurse Mildred Ratched, as the series is based on her journey from working as a nurse to being one of the most hated characters in fiction history.
Also returning should be Finn Wittrock as her foster brother Edmund. A murderer, he faced death by the electric chair but Ratched wanted to euthanize him out of compassion to help him die without pain. However, he escaped, killed several nurses, and went on the run.
Also returning should be Amanda Plummer as Nurse Louise, as she betrayed Ratched, helped Edmund escape, and went on the run with him. Also joining them is fellow patient Charlotte (Sophie Okonedo).
Cynthia Nixon will also likely return as Gwendolyn Briggs, Nurse Ratched’s love interest who also happens to be the press secretary for Vincent D’Onofrio’s Governor Willburn.
Ratched Season 2 spoilers
Ratched begins in 1947, an origin story, which follows Nurse Ratched’s (Sarah Paulson) journey and evolution from nurse to the monster people met in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
The series tracks her murderous progression through the mental health care system.
Mildred Ratched arrives in Northern California in 1947, looking for employment at one of the leading psychiatric hospitals, where unsettling, new experiments have begun in regard to working on the human mind.
On a secret mission, Mildred offers herself up as the perfect image of a dedicated nurse, but the wheels in her head are always turning.
She begins to infiltrate the mental health care system and those within it. As time passes, Mildred’s stylish exterior shows growing darkness that has been smoldering within.
This show reveals that true monsters are made, not born.
The first season ended on a major cliffhanger, with Mildred Ratched’s foster brother Edmund (Finn Wittrock) saying he killed nurses because of her plan to euthanize him and then threatening to kill her. She responds, saying she will find him first.
However, Sarah Paulson said that she expects to end Ratched before the story of Nurse Ratched in the Cuckoo’s Nest hospital.
“I don’t know that we would ever go into the [‘Cuckoo’s Nest’] hospital, simply because — and this is me saying this, I don’t know what Ryan’s plan would be — I certainly don’t want to see me acting opposite a computer-generated Jack Nicholson,” Paulson said.
“So I think if we end up in that era, it would be more about what Nurse Ratched’s life was when she turned the key in her white uniform, coming back into her house from those days at the hospital with all those events that happened there.”
Instead, Ratched said that Season 2 will see a more hardened Nurse Ratched.
“The thing that kept her soft was the part of her that was engaged in the love and the protection and the desire for absolution as it pertained to her brother,” Paulson said.
“Now that that’s gone, I don’t know who she’ll become. But further and further away from her heart and her humanity, I can be pretty sure about that.”
Netflix has yet to announce when Ratched Season 2 will premiere. The first season of Ratched is currently streaming on Netflix.