Sarah Paulson Talks Returning to Set for ‘AHS’ Season 10, ‘Impeachment’ Amid Pandemic
Sarah Paulson and Ryan Murphy’s latest collaboration “Ratched,” a prequel series telling the origin story of Nurse Ratched from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” launches Sept. 18 on Netflix. And while that project was wrapped long before COVID-19 hit — a year ago, in fact — the two are re-teaming in the next few weeks for two productions that were initially delayed due to the pandemic: “Impeachment: American Crime Story” and the 10th season of “American Horror Story.”
“‘Impeachment’ I’m starting very, very soon. In the next two weeks, actually. That’s the plan, anyway. That could of course change, because everything is very much alive in that way and changing constantly,” Paulson told TheWrap during an interview about “Ratched” Thursday.
While production on “Impeachment” — the fourth season of “American Crime Story,” which focuses on the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal and stars Paulson as Linda Tripp — will start up first, Murphy announced last week that “AHS” Season 10 will begin shooting in October. Paulson says that strict safety guidelines to protect cast and crew from the coronavirus are being put in place for both FX series, which are produced by Disney’s 20th Television.
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“In terms of protocols, you can’t even imagine the emails I get and the documents I get,” she said. “And the consideration around all of it has been extraordinary. Disney and Ryan Murphy Television have all been very, very on top of it. And so I feel as protected as I can feel, given that I will be mask-free, working on a set around a bunch of people. So it’s definitely intimidating and nervewracking. But I’ve been told by people who have done it, that the lead up to it — because we’ve all been our houses for months and months and all of a sudden what was normal, to spend hours and hours on set with over a hundred people, now seems so far away and so impossible to imagine that the thought of doing it feels really scary. But apparently, once you’re there and see all the protocols that have been taken, people tend to feel more relaxed than they expected to. So here’s hoping.”
When it comes to the next season of “Ratched” — which got an initial two-season order from Netflix back in 2017 — Paulson isn’t sure when they’ll be able to get going, but she’s hoping the anticipation is worth it for fans.
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“At this point we shot ‘Ratched’ a little over a year ago,” she said. “But the good news about Netflix– I like to think about it like ‘The Crown,’ just because I’m a desperate fan of ‘The Crown’ and the amount of time I have to wait for another season always makes me so f—ing crazy. But then when it comes I’m just like a raved nut just sitting there and I devour it. And I get so excited when I start to see the posters and I know that it’s soon and it’s always usually around Christmastime and it’s like a present to me. So I like to put us into that timeframe in my mind that if people consume it the way I hope they do, they will anxiously be waiting for the next installment when it does come. And it’ll make it that much sweeter.”
“Ratched” premieres Sept. 18 on Netflix.
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