Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, Bates Motel) will star in Apple TV+’s Hurricane Katrina drama, Five Days at Memorial, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series is based on a nonfiction book of the same name by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink.
The series will follow the first five days of Hurricane Katrina from a specific New Orleans hospital. “When the floodwaters rose, the power failed and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers were forced to make life-and-death decisions that haunted them for years to come,” according to the Apple press release announcing the series.
Farmiga will star as Dr. Anna Pou, who led the Memorial Hospital staff, according to Deadline. There were a total of 40 dead bodies found in the hospital, and the series will chronicle an attempt to prosecute Pou and other hospital staff for homicide.
Carlton Cuse, the showrunner for Bates Motel, and John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) will co-write, serve as co-showrunners, executive produce and direct for the series. In addition, ABC Signature, with whom Cuse and Ridley have overall deals, will produce, and Fink will produce.
Farmiga, who has earned an Oscar nomination and a couple of Emmy nominations, is currently working on Disney+’s Hawkeye, and she will star alongside Patrick Wilson (The Phantom of the Opera, Hard Candy) in The Conjuring 3.