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Sarah Paulson Chills in Netflix's New 'Ratched' Trailer

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

From Harper's BAZAAR

Sarah Paulson will see you now.

The actress and longtime Ryan Murphy collaborator will star in another one of the mega producer's projects, this time a Netflix series highlighting the origin story of the infamous Nurse Ratched from the 1975 film One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Here's what you need to know about the haunting new drama.

Ratched debuts on September 18.

The eight-episode series arrives on Friday, September 18. Like most new Netflix shows, expect the episodes to launch at midnight PT/3 a.m. ET.

It takes place in the late 1940s.

Set in 1947, the thriller drama follows nurse Mildred Ratched as she arrives in Northern California searching for work then landing a job at a psychiatric hospital. While she presents herself as a picture-perfect caretaker, beneath her placid and fashionable facade is "a growing darkness that has long been smoldering within, revealing that true monsters are made, not born," according to Netflix's synopsis.

Viewers of the five-time Oscar-winning One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest starring Jack Nicholson know Ratched from Louise Fletcher's portrayal, which earned the actress an Academy Award. The character, nicknamed the Big Nurse, also appears in the film's literary source material: Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name.

Photo credit: United Archives - Getty Images
Photo credit: United Archives - Getty Images

Cynthia Nixon and Sharon Stone also star.

Joining Paulson on-screen are legends Cynthia Nixon and Sharon Stone playing characters Gwendolyn Briggs and Lenore Osgood, respectively. A few of Murphy's former collaborators are on the roster as well. See the full list below.

  • Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) as Gwendolyn Briggs

  • Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct, Casino) as Lenore Osgood

  • Judy Davis (The Dressmaker, My Brilliant Career) as Nurse Betsy Bucket

  • Jon Jon Briones (American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, American Horror Story: Apocalypse) as Dr. Richard Hanover

  • Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story) as Edmund Tolleson

  • Charlie Carver (Teen Wolf, The Leftovers) as Huck Finnigan

  • Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures, Ginger & Rosa) as Dolly

  • Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction) as Louise

  • Corey Stoll (The Strain, Ant-Man) as Charles Wainwright

  • Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) as Charlotte Wells

  • Brandon Flynn (13 Reasons Why) as Henry Osgood

  • Vincent D'Onofrio (Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Daredevil) as Governor George Wilburn

Photos are already here.

Flip through the gallery below for a taste of the upcoming series and watch the first trailer above.

And so is the final trailer.

In the haunting preview, Paulson's Mildred shares some details about her cloaked backstory and upbringing. "I remember my mother and father, but I can't picture them," she says. "See, I was taken away from them when I was very young, and told that someday I would see them again. But that was a lie."

We also see footage of her time at the psychiatric hospital, where she and the staff are introduced to the lobotomy, which was then believed to "reverse" things like "juvenile distraction, lesbianism, mania." Cynthia Nixon's Gwendolyn Briggs then poses a central question: "But then, aren't we playing God?"

Watch below, and see the original trailer above.

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