The Dropout, Hulu’s upcoming miniseries based on ABC’s podcast by the same name about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, has the unenviable task of dramatizing an already out-there story revolving around a rather unbelievable person and getting audiences to take it seriously. But judging from the serious first trailer, The Dropout might just be able to pull it off.
The trailer traces the by-now-familiar arc of Holmes’ (Amanda Seyfried) story that began with her dropping out of Stanford to start what would eventually become Theranos and more recently saw the disgraced inventor being found guilty for defrauding Theranos’ investors. Guided by ambition and a belief that she could will her visions into existence, Holmes crosses paths with key players in the Theranos story like Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews) and outsiders like professor Phyllis Gardner (Laurie Metcalf), who couldn’t help but express their doubts about the larger-than-life promises Holmes and her company were making.
It’s still too soon to tell what, if any, lasting impact the guilty verdict against Holmes is going to have in the larger startup tech space, where truth-bending hustles are often considered just a normal part of the game. What’s clear from The Dropout’s trailer, though, is that Hollywood still very much has an appetite for turning these sorts of stories into slick, quickly produced entertainment — even in instances when the full story has yet to fully play out in the real world.
The Dropout is slated to hit Hulu on March 3rd.