WARNING: Spoilers for Ratched season 1 ahead
While plot details for Ratched season 2 haven't surfaced, it's possible that the Netflix show—which serves as an origin story for the primary antagonist of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest—will see Edmund (Finn Wittrock) kill his sister's lover, Gwendolyn (Cynthia Nixon).
Sarah Paulson and Ryan Murphy enjoyed another successful collaboration with Ratched, which earned mixed to negative reviews from critics, but has established a strong fan base. Audience interest was piqued by the concept of an origin story for the icy, wicked nurse from Ken Kesey's novel. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was turned into a 1975 movie starring Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy and Louise Fletcher in her Academy Award winning turn as Nurse Ratched. Ratched shows a softer side of Nurse Mildred Ratched (Paulson), though not too soft — while she's not the show's primary antagonist, she's certainly got a dark side.
At her core, Mildred is just a woman trying to establish a successful career for herself as a health professional, despite her not actually being a legitimate nurse. She seems passionate about her belief that the mind can be fully cured, even if the most sick patients. She has a tragic backstory, which was connected to—and explains her fondness for—her brother, Edmund, a serial killer. Ratched season 1 also explores Mildred's sexuality and how she comes to terms with being romantically attracted to another woman, Gwendolyn, in a time when same-sex partnerships weren't so wholly embraced and had to be conducted in secret. In many ways, it's easy to empathize with Mildred, so there needs to be a route that sensibly embraces her inevitable rise to villainy. Edmund killing the woman she loves might just do the trick.
Gwendolyn & Mildred Will Be Tested In Ratched Season 2
Ratched season 1 already shows conflict is looming on the horizon for Mildred and Gwendolyn after the discovery that the latter has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The two decide to go to Mexico to pursue aggressive treatment that will hopefully save Gwendolyn's life, and seem to be enjoying being healthy and in love for the time being, though Mildred always keeps a paranoid watch over her shoulder due to Edmund's escape. Edmund, who was originally intended to be executed by the state of California via lethal injection, eventually was doomed for the electric chair. Mildred couldn't stomach him being murdered so viciously, so she and Nurse Bucket (Judy Davis) devised a plan to execute him humanely. Before his escape, Edmund learned of Mildred's plans to execute him herself and, while his foster sister had good intentions for the deed, he took it as a betrayal.
This is more than enough reason to explain Mildred's paranoia, but since she and Gwendolyn are already struggling with the treatments Gwendolyn must undergo, it would be easy enough to rattle them. If Mildred becomes too paranoid—or even too hasty in her pursuit of Edmund—it could lead to danger for her more vulnerable partner. Either way, the couple will likely be tested; all it would take is for Ratched season 2 to put Gwendolyn in a position where Mildred isn't around to intervene. From there, Edmund could easily strike.
Ratched Season 1's Ending Sets Up Conflict For Mildred & Edmund
Mildred and Edmund are similarly at odds. Because he already has experienced a great deal of loss and suffers from abandonment issues, Mildred's decision to execute him—however humanely—has become a difficult pill for Edmund to swallow. That said, Mildred has established herself as a more dominant force in Edmund's life, so while it's possible she might be able to talk him out of harsh action at first, it likely won't last. Edmund is a loose cannon; this has been proven through his various actions throughout the season. The few times he has tried to exercise caution or restraint, particularly after he tried to run away with Dolly (Alice Englert), haven't ended up the way he wanted, so he might be less inclined to be as considerate in his future endeavors. Edmund is also very emotional, a stark contrast to Mildred's even-keel and icy control.
While Edmund's first actions might not be to actively seek out and harm Gwendolyn, it's more likely that his interactions with Mildred throughout the early episodes of Ratched season 2 will lead him to think there's no better option and act out rashly to produce his desired result. There's also the fact that Mildred and Edmund have a strange relationship to begin with. They are foster siblings who were forced to perform sexual acts on each other as children for an audience in one of their more cruel foster homes, which bonded them through shared trauma. Edmund is likely still experiencing loss after Dolly's death, and if he feels he's losing or has lost Mildred as well—or notices how happy she is with Gwendolyn—he might try to ruin her relationship through extremely drastic measures.
Mildred Needs A Pathway To Becoming The Villain
Though she's already experienced more than enough tragedy, Mildred has managed to persevere and even find purpose through it. Her happiness with Gwendolyn might cause her to become softer rather than harder, which isn't the direction that Ratched has to take. After Ratched season 1's ending, there's very little in Mildred's demeanor that reflects her future outcome: the villain audiences recognize from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. While there's certainly time for Mildred to have a proper character arc, and it's likely Murphy and his colleagues have no intention of rushing this transformation, there needs to be ample, logical reasons for the change to occur. As evidenced by how dissatisfied Game of Thrones fans were by Daenerys abruptly turning into the Mad Queen, Ratched must employ logic to make viewers not only understand, but respect how she could become so cruel.
Even so, while she is the antagonist in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Nurse Ratched isn't a psychopath. She's more calculating, intentionally divisive, and something of a control freak. Really, her behavior is amplified by the obvious protagonists who surround her, as well as how the story's narration is told. As the reader or viewer is meant to side with Randle and his fellows at the state hospital, Ratched is—by default—the story's villain. She's not evil, but as Ratched pivots more toward the psychologically-driven horror that Murphy has established in various seasons of his long-running anthology series, American Horror Story, it's quite plausible that in season 2 and beyond, audiences will get a darker side of the titular character, which means a harsher outcome must be employed in turn.