<\/p>
The Dropout<\/a> star Naveen Andrews has revealed he had doubts the show would get made after original star Kate McKinnon abruptly pulled out before filming could begin.<\/p>\n The drama series is based on the true story of Elizabeth Holmes and her health company Theranos, which falsely claimed to have invented revolutionary new blood testing technology.<\/p>\n Amanda Seyfried portrays the disgraced CEO, who was convicted on fraud charges at the start of the year, but the role was initially bagged by SNL and Ghostbusters star McKinnon.<\/p>\n When asked if her departure from The Dropout made him uncertain about the future of the series, Andrews told RadioTimes.com<\/a>: \u201cGod, yes.\u201d<\/p> He continued: \u201cI mean, this is almost going back two years now when I was first attached to it and Kate was going to do it. But then we heard, \u2018No, she\u2019s not going to do it\u2019 and in this business that means \u2018it may not happen\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think just after Mank<\/a> came out, the film that Amanda [Seyfried] did with Gary Oldman, she stepped in. So you know, [these] things happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mank can certainly be considered a career-changing gig for Seyfried as it secured the Mamma Mia!<\/a> star her first ever Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actress.<\/p>\n Speaking to\u00a0RadioTimes.com\u00a0<\/strong>and other press, The Dropout showrunner Elizabeth Meriwether reiterated that McKinnon\u2019s exit was down to availability issues created by the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were actually going to start shooting with Kate McKinnon in March 2020, so that didn\u2019t happen. And then it was like, two more years [passed] and she just, you know, it was like scheduling,\u201d she explained.<\/span><\/p>\n Meriwether added that bringing in Seyfried didn\u2019t change the tone of the project, as comedian McKinnon had always intended this to be a more dramatic role.<\/p>\n \u201cKate had really wanted it to be serious, so it was never a satirical piece,\u201d she revealed. \u201cAnd then Amanda just stepped in and I think has this amazing ability to acknowledge absurdity, but keep the emotional stakes of the scene.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Andrews co-stars in The Dropout as Sunny Balwani, business partner and secret lover to Holmes, while the cast also includes Stephen Fry (It\u2019s A Sin<\/a>), Dylan Minnette (Scream<\/a>) and Alan Ruck (Succession<\/a>).<\/p>\n The Dropout premieres on Disney Plus on Thursday 3rd March 2022. Check out more of our Drama<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, l<\/strong>isten to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By David Craig Published: Tuesday, 01 March 2022 at 12:00 am The Dropout star Naveen Andrews has revealed he had doubts the show would get made after original star Kate McKinnon abruptly pulled out before filming could begin. The drama series is based on the true story of Elizabeth Holmes and her health company Theranos, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By David Craig Published: Tuesday, 01 March 2022 at 12:00 am The Dropout star Naveen Andrews has revealed he had doubts the show would get made after original star Kate McKinnon abruptly pulled out before filming could begin. The drama series is based on the true story of Elizabeth Holmes and her health company Theranos,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/11640"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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