Sarah Paulson doesn’t know if Ratched season 2 is still happening

We’ve got some potentially unfortunate news for fans of the Netflix series Ratched. According to a recent interview with star Sarah Paulson, the show might not be returning for a second season after all. Ratched was initially ordered for two seasons, but it’s been radio silence for more than two years now. So what do we know about Ratched season 2?

Well, so far, nothing. Besides Netflix giving the Ryan Murphy series a two-season pick-up from the get-go, since it started streaming on September 18, 2020, we haven’t learned anything about what might happen next.

The series, which is designed as an origin story for the classic literary character Nurse Mildred Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, currently has eight episodes and, besides Paulson, stars Finn Wittrock, Cynthia Nixon, Jon Jon Briones, Charlie Carver, Judy Davis and Sharon Stone.

Ratched season 2 might not be happening anymore at Netflix

Fans have been eagerly waiting for news on the show since 2020, but we still have no idea what the status is. Netflix Life previously reached out to Netflix for comment but has not heard back.

Normally, by this time, we would at least know whether Ratched season 2 has been written or hear casting announcements for new season. But while talking to Variety in August 2022, Sarah Paulson said she didn’t know if a second season was in the works or not.

That’s a pretty bad sign if the star of your show doesn’t know what’s going on with it. Paulson also took a year off work recently, so we know that Ratched season 2 isn’t in production.

And if it is going to happen, it’ll be intersting to see if the rest of the cast has availability in their schedules considering stars like Cynthia Nixon and Finn Wittrock are already signed on to other shows, And Just Like That and HBO Max’s Green Lantern series (although there is a rumor the DC show is dead in light of the Warner/Discovery merger).

In short, things look pretty bleak for Ratched‘s future and it does not sound like Ratched season 2 is in the works right now. The two-season pick-up came before the pandemic, so it’s possible the show was a casualty of that. However, Netflix publicly said the show is canceled, so there is still some hope that we’ll get another season eventually, but at this point, I wouldn’t anticipate seeing it until 2024 at the earliest.