The Dropout is an American biographical drama television miniseries about the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the disgraced biotechnology company Theranos; she is played by Amanda Seyfried. Created by Elizabeth Meriwether, the series is based on the ABC News podcast of the same name hosted by Rebecca Jarvis. The series features an ensemble supporting cast, including Naveen Andrews, Elizabeth Marvel, William H. Macy, Stephen Fry, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Bill Irwin, Utkarsh Ambudkar, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Ironside, Laurie Metcalf, Anne Archer, and Sam Waterston. It is the first television project produced by Searchlight Television.
The Dropout premiered on the streaming service Hulu on March 3, 2022. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the writing and the performances of the cast, particularly Seyfried. At the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series earned six nominations, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, with Seyfried winning for Outstanding Lead Actress. It was also nominated for Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film and Seyfried won Best Actress at the 80th Golden Globe Awards.
Contents
Synopsis
The Dropout, based on the ABC Audio podcast of the same name, is a series about the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos. The show touches on experiences that likely motivated Holmes's deceptions, starting from her preteens and all the way to her exposure as a fraud.
Cast and characters
Main
Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, a Stanford University dropout who goes on to found healthcare startup Theranos
Naveen Andrews as Sunny Balwani, Holmes' lover and Theranos' COO
Recurring and Guest
Elizabeth Marvel as Noel Holmes, Elizabeth's mother
Michel Gill as Chris Holmes, Elizabeth's father, a former Enron employee
William H. Macy as Richard Fuisz, the Holmes' family acquaintance with a history of healthcare patents
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Lorraine Fuisz, Richard's wife who behaves deferentially towards Noel
Bill Irwin as Channing Robertson, Holmes' chemical engineering professor at Stanford who becomes Theranos' first board member
Utkarsh Ambudkar as Rakesh Madhava, a Theranos engineer and Holmes' former TA at Robertson's research group. Madhava is a fictional character.
Laurie Metcalf as Phyllis Gardner, a physician and pharmacologist who was one of Theranos' early skeptics
Stephen Fry as Ian Gibbons, Theranos' chief scientist
Kate Burton as Rochelle Gibbons, Ian's supportive wife
James Hiroyuki Liao as Edmond Ku, a Theranos engineer who becomes increasingly disgruntled with the company's practices
Michael Ironside as Don Lucas, a venture capitalist who invested in Oracle and joins Theranos' board
Hart Bochner as Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO
Nicky Endres as Ana Arriola, a former Apple engineer who briefly joins Theranos' design team
Production
Development
On April 10, 2019, Deadline Hollywood reported that Hulu had given the production a series order for 6 to 10 episodes. The series would be executive produced by Kate McKinnon, the host of The Dropout Rebecca Jarvis, and its producers Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson. The series would be Searchlight Television’s inaugural production. Upon the casting of Amanda Seyfried, she also joined the miniseries as a producer while Elizabeth Meriwether, Liz Heldens, Liz Hannah, and Katherine Pope joined Dunn and Thompson as executive producers. On March 31, 2021, Michael Showalter and Jordana Mollick joined the limited series as executive producers. Showalter directed the first four episodes of the series.
Casting
Kate McKinnon was originally cast to star as Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of Theranos. On February 18, 2021, McKinnon dropped out of the project without an explanation. On March 29, 2021, Amanda Seyfried was cast to replace McKinnon. A day later, Naveen Andrews joined the main cast. On June 10, 2021, William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Elizabeth Marvel, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Kate Burton, Stephen Fry, Michel Gill, Michael Ironside, Bill Irwin, and Josh Pais were cast in recurring roles. On August 3, 2021, Dylan Minnette, Alan Ruck, Bashir Salahuddin, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Hart Bochner, James Hiroyuki Liao, Nicky Endres, Camryn Mi-Young Kim, and Andrew Leeds were cast in recurring roles. On August 5, 2021, Sam Waterston, Kurtwood Smith and Anne Archer were cast in recurring roles. On September 14, 2021, LisaGay Hamilton, Michaela Watkins, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kevin Sussman, Sam Straley, and Shaun Brown joined the cast in recurring capacities.
Release
The series premiered on March 3, 2022, with the first three episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis on Hulu. In international markets, it was released simultaneously via Star content hub on Disney+, on Star+ in Latin America, and on Disney+ Hotstar in India and Southeast Asia.
Reception
Viewership
According to Parrot Analytics, which looks at consumer engagement in consumer research, streaming, downloads, and on social media, The Dropout was the ninth most in-demand new show, from March 12–18. Analytics company Samba TV, which gathers viewership data from certain smart TVs and content providers, revealed that 499,000 US households watched the series in its first 4 days of streaming. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, calculated that The Dropout amassed 255 million minutes of watch time from February 28 to March 6. The series later garnered 190 million minutes of watch time from March 28 to April 3, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which tracks real-time data from 5 million U.S. users for original and acquired content across SVOD and AVOD services, announced that The Dropout was the sixth most-watched program during the week of March 23. It was later the most-watched television show during the week of March 31. JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, stated that The Dropout was the ninth most-streamed television series in the U.S. during the week ending April 3.
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the limited series holds a 90% approval rating, based on 96 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The Dropout succeeds more as a docudrama than a dark comedy, but Amanda Seyfried's disquieting portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes brings fresh blood to this retelling of recent history." On Metacritic, it has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Caroline Framke of Variety found the miniseries very impressive for its genuine portrait of Elizabeth Holmes, acclaimed the performances of the actors, especially Amanda Seyfried and Naveen Andrews, and wrote that it skillfully manages to cover Holmes' life throughout the years flawlessly with its edits. Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter acclaimed Seyfried for her performance, while praising the supporting cast, complimented how the miniseries manages to depict Holmes and the different aspects of her personality, and found the characterization of Holmes' entourage its best feature.
Reviewing the miniseries for Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall gave a rating of 5 out of 5 stars and described it as "a maddening, gripping, and at times startlingly funny recreation of a story that would feel too absurd to be true if we didn't already know otherwise". Beth Webb of Empire rated the miniseries 4 out of 5 stars, praised the performances of Seyfried and Andrews, and found it cohesive and entrancing. Joyce Slaton of Common Sense Media rated the miniseries 4 out of 5 stars, praised the performances of the actors, and stated that it illustrates Holmes went too far to make a positive impact on the world. Lucy Mangan of The Guardian rated the miniseries 3 out of 5 stars, praised the performances of the actors and the story, writing: "It's clunky at points, but Amanda Seyfried excels as one-time billionaire grifter Elizabeth Holmes – and the story is simply too jaw-dropping to pass up."
