Summary

• Ratched season 2 is canceled, and star Sarah Paulson has confirmed no new episodes are coming.
• The departure of showrunner Ryan Murphy from Netflix further diminishes the chances of a season 2 for Ratched.
• If Ratched season 2 does happen, it is likely that Sarah Paulson will continue to star as the titular character, along with other surviving characters from season 1.

Fan curiosity abounds about whether there will be a Ratched season 2 on Netflix, but the series has unfortunately been canceled. Based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the prequel horror show was created by Ryan Murphy and Evan Romansky. Ratched season 1 was released in September 2020 and stars Sarah Paulson as Mildred Ratched. Ratched is a seemingly pleasant nurse with some dark secrets, including that she has a brother, Edmund Tolleson, played by American Horror Story mainstay Finn Wittrock.

Edmund is a serial killer who murdered several priests and is moved to Ratched's hospital for psychological evaluation. As it turns out, Ratched has plans for her brother and for anyone else who gets in the way of her increasingly nefarious schemes. Characters plot against each other in the season finale, setting up a wild potential season 2. A story with much more to tell, Ratched season 2 seemed a sure thing in September 2020, but since then, the sophomore installment has been stalled and finally canceled.

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Ratched Season 2 Is Canceled

Sarah Paulson Puts An End To The Speculation

After years of speculation about a second season, it has finally been confirmed that Ratched has been canceled at Netflix after only one season. When speaking about the potential return of the horror series, actor Sarah Paulson gave a simple but definitive answer that no more episodes were forthcoming. Though Netflix hasn't made a statement regarding the series, the fact that no news has surfaced in years is a good sign that Paulson told the truth. Ryan Murphy's high-profile departure from Netflix is likely the biggest reason, though Paulson didn't clarify why Ratched season 2 didn't happen.

Sarah Paulson has also starred in various seasons of American Horror Story, American Crime Story, and Feud, which are all Ryan Murphy creations.

Ratched Season 2 Cast

Who Could Have Returned?

With the cancelation of Ratched season 2, it's unclear who could have been in the cast of season 2, though season 1 does offer some ideas. Paulson would almost undoubtedly have returned as the titular character; it's her show as much as it is Murphy's. Ratched's brother Edmund (Finn Wittrock) would also likely have returned, considering his threat to kill his sister at the end of season 1.

Gwendolyn Briggs (Cynthia Nixon) and Nurse Betsy Bucket (Judy Davis) were also on the run with Ratched and should have appeared in season 2. Louise (Amanda Plummer) and Charlotte Wells (Sophie Okonedo) also survived the violent events of the last two episodes of Ratched and could have returned to the series.

Ratched Season 2 Story

What Could Have Been

Ratched season 1 ended with Ratched trying to secure a humane execution for her brother. Just weeks before Edmund was scheduled to be killed via lethal injection, the Governor re-introduces the electric chair and personally executes a random criminal. Ratched plans to euthanize Edmund at Lucia State Hospital, hoping to prevent his suffering, but the priest killer manages to escape with another patient and his friend Charlotte.

Three years later, Ratched vacations in Mexico and learns that several nurses were murdered in Chicago. She receives a phone call from Edmund and promises to track him down. In Ratched season 2, Ratched's quest to find and kill Edmund would seemingly have led to conflict with her love interest, Gwendolyn, who is receiving treatment for breast cancer. Then again, the lovers decided to be together, knowing how difficult the road would be.

Ratched season 2 on Netflix should still have been about Nurse Ratched before One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, so there still needed to be a bridge between how she gets from her conflict with Edmund to becoming the head nurse at a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is set 13 years after the events of the Ratched season 1 finale, meaning there was still plenty more story to tell.

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  Ratched

  Cast:

  Sarah Paulson

  Release Date:

  2020-09-19

  Seasons:

  1

  Genres:

  Drama

  Story By:

  Ryan Murphy

  Writers:

  Ryan Murphy

  Streaming Service(s):

  Netflix

  Directors:

  Ryan Murphy

  Showrunner:

  Ryan Murphy