American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. SimpsonThere’s a lengthy worth-reading piece on The Hollywood Reporter’s website that goes behind-the-scenes on Ryan Murphy’s upcoming "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson," which will premiere on the FX network on Tuesday, February 2 at 10 PM ET/PT, kicking off what will be a 10-episode season, and the first of an anthology series (just like Murphy’s other FX series "American Horror Story").

Based on the book, "The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson" by Jeffrey Toobin, the series will provide audiences with a look at the O.J. Simpson trial told from the perspective of the lawyers that explored the chaotic back-room dealings and maneuvering on both sides of the court, and how a combination of prosecution confidence, defense wiliness, and the LAPD’s history with the city’s black community gave a jury what it needed: reasonable doubt.

So this is much less about the actual crime itself, as the story takes place after their murders (the court trial that followed), and there will be no flashbacks.

Cuba Gooding Jr. plays O.J., while Sarah Paulson is prosecutor Marcia Clark, Courtney B. Vance plays the late Johnny Cochran, David Schwimmer is Robert Kardashian, John Travolta plays Robert Shapiro, and Billy Magnussen as Kato Kaelin.

Sterling K. Brown plays Christopher Darden; Malcolm-Jamal Warner is A.C. Cowlings; Selma Blair is Kris Kardashian; and Connie Britton is Faye Resnick.

The real O.J. Simpson is not involved in the series in any way, nor will he benefit financially from it.

And while FX hasn’t yet officially given a season 2 order for "American Crime Story," in the Hollywood Reporter piece, it seems to be a certainty at this point, because the network has high hopes for "The People v. O.J. Simpson" (season 1), and early reactions from so-called "taste-makers" have been strong., according to the report.

Also mentioned is what real-life historical occurrence that season 2 of the anthology will tackle. Here’s the paragraph that touches on that: "Now, The Hollywood Reporter can reveal that the second installment will center on Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath. Though [FX Productions senior vp Gina] Balian’s team was still in negotiations for source material at press time, the producers are hoping to start production in the fall and have begun talking to writers… Murphy says 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. ‘I want this show to be a socially conscious, socially aware examination of different types of crime around the world,’ he says on a rare quiet afternoon in his L.A. office in mid-December. "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."

I’m certainly intrigued by his planned approach to the subject. Having seen a couple of episodes of season 1, which I found surprisingly promising (I was quite cautious going into it given the powder-keg of the matter it tackles), I’m hopeful for what’s to become of the series.

Read the full Hollywood Reporter piece here.

"American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson," premieres on the FX network on Tuesday, February 2 at 10 PM ET/PT.

FX has released an extended look at the series (below), which includes new footage as well as behind-the-scenes coverage featuring cast and crew, promising that what we think we know about the Simpson case isn’t at all complete, and that the series will tell the other half of the story (the backroom dealings for example) we don’t know about.

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