Just consider Sarah Paulson a mainstay in any Ryan Murphy show from now on. Murphy himself confirmed that Sarah Paulson will be a part of the fourth installment of American Crime Story and confirmed to E! Online that the fourth season will focus on Monica Lewinsky.
However, for those who want Paulson to portray former First Lady and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Murphy crushed those dreams, saying “Sarah will be in it but she won’t be playing Hillary (Clinton). That’s earmarked for talks with somebody else. We’re casting that now. I can’t say what Sarah is playing, but it starts shooting at the end of this year.”
FX optioned the rights to the book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down A President by Jeffrey Toobin about a month ago, seemingly hinting that the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton scandal would be a future installment of the show at some point. Toobin also wrote The Run of His Life: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, which is what season one of the American Crime Story series focused on.
Murphy further commented about Toobin’s book, saying “It’s not really about Hillary Clinton. That book is about the rise of a certain segment of a right-ring group of people who despised the Clintons and used three women, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp, to try and tear him down. The Toobin book is amazing. And there are a lot of bizarre crimes within that book that you can highlight. But the show isn’t really about Hillary Clinton, it really is about the other women.”
Murphy also said that filming on the fourth season of American Crime Story will begin at the end of the year. As for now, he said that the first five episodes of the third season, which focuses on Gianni Versace’s murder, will be filmed first, followed by season two’s episodes, which will have Annette Bening in a role, and then the final five episodes of the third season will be shot.
The fourth season of American Crime Story isn’t the only project of Murphy’s that Paulson will be featured in. It’s been confirmed that her and Evan Peters will be in the upcoming season of American Horror Story. Currently, they are the only two actors who have been confirmed to return for the seventh season.
Paulson will also be in the second season of American Crime Story, which focuses on Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath of the hurricane. She’ll also be appearing in Feud, which premieres on March 5 at 10 p.m. on FX.
Season four of American Crime Story starts filming at the end of 2017. Season two of the show will premiere some time in 2018.