At the Television Critics Association winter press tour today, FX chairman John Landgraf confirmed that the premiere date for the show American Crime Story: Impeachment will be delayed. The series, which was originally slated to premiere this September ahead of the 2020 election, will now be finishing production in October.
Impeachment, the newest addition to creator Ryan Murphy’s crime anthology series, will follow the story of the Clinton presidency scandal. The delay is reportedly due to the fact that Murphy is currently in production for the Netflix film Prom, featuring Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep. In his statement, Langraf noted that Murphy will not be able to begin production until March 21st, which means that the production will not be complete until October. He stated that a September release was “not reasonable, given that it won’t finish production until October. As for when we’ll schedule it, we don’t know. We have to get into production and see how it goes and how long post-production will be. I guess I would say it’s TBD at this point.”
When American Crime Story: Impeachment was first announced, FX and Murphy faced backlash for choosing to air so close to the 2020 election. Viewers were concerned that a series about impeachment might affect 2020 election results given the impeachment trial of the current president. At the time, Landgraf had stated that he didn’t believe the show would affect election results, saying “I don’t believe it’s going to determine who is the next president of the United States… I think that’s a little hysterical, from my standpoint.” Landgraf gave no indication that the viewer backlash impacted the decision to delay the premiere of Impeachment, citing only Murphy’s busy schedule.
American Crime Story: Impeachment will star Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp, Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky, and Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones. The series is written by Sarah Burgess based on the book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President, written by Jeffrey Toobin. The new release date for Impeachment has not yet been announced.