Katrina: American Crime Story is evidently undergoing a "creative pivot." The news comes two months after the announcement that Katrina has been pushed back to allow upcoming installment The Assassination of Gianni Versace to premiere first. Though the season has been in the works for some time, it's been trailed by a number of delays, including both script and production hold-ups. Eventually, the Crime Story team decided Versace was in better shape and shifted the schedule.

Katrina, a 10-episode project, is set to focus on the deadly storm that devastated New Orleans in August 2005.  Annette Bening, Dennis Quaid, and Matthew Broderick were among those previously attached to star. It's unclear if they'll able to continue with the new timetable, though at last check, talks to do so were ongoing. Then in July, reports emerged that the Katrina season had stalled and was in jeopardy of never making it to air.

During the 2017 Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, however, FX CEO John Landgraf assured attendees the season would go on as planned, and that they'd undertaken a new creative direction. He said, per Entertainment Weekly:

“I’m confident that it will air and I’m really, really excited. It was a big creative pivot we made. It was a difficult decision because we were far along one creative direction, and [showrunner Ryan Murphy] decided — and we supported Ryan — that the bar is really high for this franchise and we just weren’t confident we were going to get over it. Simultaneously, there was an idea for a creative pivot, which I’m going to let Ryan announce to you when he feels the time is right to do. But I think you’ll see when he does, it’s a really, really exciting idea. I’m now more confident about it creatively than I was before."

Penelope Cruz in American Crime Story

He also said that Murphy, who's scheduled for a Q&A later this afternoon, may not be ready to make the announcement about Katrina just yet, but that it will be happening in the near future.

What such a pivot could entail is difficult to guess. With American Horror Story, Murphy has shown a tendency to juxtapose real-world issues with elaborate fiction, as he did with the reality show takedown of Roanoke and is poised to repeat with the politically-inclined Cult. But of the one season of American Crime Story that's been released, last year's The People V. OJ Simpson, he's kept it to the book with recreated but still straightforward true crime. So, he could be angling for a big twist, as he's wont to do, or even tackling a new approach entirely. Whatever the case may be, hopefully details are soon to follow.

NEXT: American Horror Story: Cult Teaser Trailer

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story is expected to premiere on FX in early 2018, followed by Katrina: American Crime Story later that year. Another future season, which will explore the Monica Lewinsky scandal, is undated.

Source: Entertainment Weekly