Another month, another star-studded new series from Ryan Murphy under his Disney deal. FX has given a series order to The Beauty, a drama starring Evan Peters, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope and Ashton Kutcher. Peters, Ramos and Pope also executive produce.
Co-created, written and exec produced by Murphy and Matt Hodgson, The Beauty is based on the comic books by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley. Production on the 11-episode first season is slated to begin this fall, likely in November. Per usual for a Ryan Murphy project, no official details about the premise and the characters are provided.
The 2016 graphic novel The Beauty is about an STD that makes those affected beautiful. But the disease, dubbed “the Beauty,” eventually kills its hosts as part of a suspected sinister government plot. The main characters in the comics are detectives Drew Foster and Kara Vaughn, partners on beauty crime cases who have to find their way past corrupt politicians, vengeful federal agents, and a terrifying mercenary out to collect the price on their heads.
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I hear the TV series adaptation also is a two-hander, with a male and female lead. Search is under way for an actress to join Peters, Ramos, Pope and Kutcher, so it’s possible that she and one of the four, likely Peters, could play Vaughn and Foster, respectively. Kutcher is thought to be playing a tech billionaire.
Chatter about The Beauty first started in June, with Murphy’s frequent collaborator Peters said to be attached as star and executive producer. By August, the cast started to take shape with Ramos, Pope and Kutcher either set or in negotiations. Kutcher’s involvement in the series predates the recent arrest and indictment of Sean “Diddy” Combs on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering that has put a spotlight on people who have had a longtime relationship with him.
The Beauty is executive produced by Murphy, Hodgson, Peters, Ramos, Pope, Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson, Nissa Diederich and Eric Gitter. The series is produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television.
Peters headlined and executive produced Murphy’s hit Netflix limited series Dahmer: Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, for which he earned an Emmy nomination, a SAG nomination and a Golden Globe. An Emmy winner for HBO’s Mare of Easttown, Peters appeared in nine installments of Murphy’s FX anthology series American Horror Story, receiving a producer credit for the 10th. Other series credits include Disney+’s WandaVision and FX’s Pose. He next stars in Tron: Ares. Peters is repped by CAA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
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Ramos recently starred in Universal’s summer tentpole Twisters alongside Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones and in the latest installment in the Transformers franchise, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Up next, Ramos stars in the Marvel series Ironheart for Disney+. He is repped by CAA, Door 24, Laffitte Mangement Group and attorney Erik Hyman of Paul Hastings.
Pope is known for Murphy’s Netflix limited series Hollywood, which landed him an Emmy nomination, as well as The Inspection, which garnered him a Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination. He is repped by WME, Door 24, and attorney Michael Auerbach.
Kutcher recently starred in the Netflix romantic comedy Your Place or Mine with Reese Witherspoon and Focus Features’ Vengeance with B.J. Novak. He previously starred in and executive produced the Netflix comedy series The Ranch. Kutcher is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern.
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This marks the latest new series greenlight for Murphy since his Disney deal started about a year ago. The Beauty joins ABC’s Doctor Odyssey, starring Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson, and FX’s Grotesquerie, headlined by Niecy Nash, which both premiered last week, along with the upcoming Hulu drama series All’s Fair, starring Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, Glenn Close, Nash and Sarah Paulson. He also has American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez on FX and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story for Netflix, which both debuted earlier this month, and upcoming installments of American Horror Story and American Horror Stories, among other shows.