01 Sep 2005, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA --- Residents wait to be rescued from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans September 1, 2005. Chaos and lawlessness hampered the evacuation of New Orleans on Thursday and a U.S. senator said thousands may have died in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast. In New Orleans, shell-shocked officials tried to regain control of the historic jazz city reduced to a swampy ruin by Monday's storm. Bodies floated in the flooded city and authorities still could only guess how many people had died. --- Image by © David J. Phillip/Pool/Reuters/Corbis
Residents wait to be rescued from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans September 1, 2005. © David J. Phillip/Pool/Reuters/Corbis

Previously announced, after the critical and ratings success that was “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson” on the FX network – the next installment of Ryan Murphy’s “American Crime Story” anthology series will tackle Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath.

Murphy has said that the working plan is to follow a group of six to eight people in an attempt to examine all sides of the tragedy, from the Superdome in New Orleans to the hospital, to those who were put on buses and dropped off with babies who had to wear trash bags for multiple days, and more.

“I want this show to be a socially conscious, socially aware examination of different types of crime around the world,” Murphy says. “And in my opinion, Katrina was a f—ing crime — a crime against a lot of people who didn’t have a strong voice, and we’re going to treat it as a crime. That’s what this show is all about.”




Though producers were hoping to start production in the fall of 2016 for a premiere later in 2017, audiences will have to make adjustments to their calendar because, just like another hit FX series – Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” – “American Crime Story” season 2 won’t be ready until 2018.

At the Television Critics Association (TCA) winter press tour today in Pasadena, CA, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf made the announcement.

The Hurricane Katrina-focused season has taken longer to develop Landgraf added, and therefore won’t be ready to air until 2018, two full years after “The People v. O.J. Simpson” debuted.

“We just have really high ambitions for this franchise,” Landgraf said. “It’s just taken time to get material that we’re happy with.”

He also noted that the production will film in New Orleans, and certain times of the year are off-limits for filming because of hurricane season, coincidentally.

“We look at it on a show-by-show basis and try to be as accommodating to the talent as we can,” said Eric Schrier, president, original programming at FX, of long hiatuses.

Added Landgraf, “Do you want it now, or do you want it good? … We’ll take it later, and we’ll take it good.”

Indeed.

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