With Kate McKinnon out, Amanda Seyfried to play kooky Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu's The Dropout

Hulu has found a new Elizabeth Holmes. On Monday, Deadline reported that Amanda Seyfried will replace Kate McKinnon in the limited series about the fraudster Theranos founder. This news a month after McKinnon, who was also set to be one of the show’s executive producers. (The Saturday Night Live actress decided to leave the series for undisclosed reasons, though it’s been reported it was due to scheduling issues.) Seyfried started out on soap operas before roles on Veronica Mars and Big Love, but this will be her first live-action TV role since Twin Peaks: The Return. The actress will also serve as a producer on the series, which is based on ABC News’ podcast about the rise and fall of Theranos, exposing Holmes’ scamming. Holmes, who was also the subject of Alex Gibney’s HBO documentary The Inventor, was indicted by a federal jury in 2018 on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

McKinnon admittedly resembled Holmes a lot more than Seyfried, but maybe if Seyfried can get the frazzled facial expressions and weird, low voice down, she could be a convincing Holmes. It’s been a big year for Seyfried already. The actor received her first Oscar nomination for playing another real-life person, Citizen Kane star Marion Davies, in David Fincher’s Mank. Seyfried also stars in Netflix’s upcoming thriller Things Heard And Seen. The film is an adaptation of Elizabeth Brundage’s All Things Cease to Appear and features Seyfried as a young woman who moves to a small town with her husband and finds out her home harbors sinister secrets.

According to Deadline, Hulu is “eyeing a summer start” for The Dropout.