'SNL' Star Kate McKinnon to Play Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in New Hulu Series

The new series is an adaptation of ABC News' podcast and docu-series "The Dropout." 

Kate McKinnon is slated to play disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in a new Hulu series, Deadline first reported. 

The "Ghostbusters" and "Saturday Night Live" star — who has famously parodied Hillary Clinton, Kellyanne Conway, Jeff Sessions, Angela Merkel and a slew of other public figures — will portray the woman who was once called the next Steve Jobs and now stands accused of massive fraud. 

The new Hulu series is the latest Holmes-related project to be announced. Producers and audiences alike can't seem to get enough of Holmes' fall from grace, which has become one of the most fascinating in the history of Silicon Valley. 

In January, ABC News released a podcast and docu-series, both called "The Dropout." The Hulu show is said to be based on ABC News' production. 

Then in March, HBO released its own documentary, "The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley."

"Bad Blood," a Hollywood film starring Jennifer Lawrence as Holmes based on reporter John Carreyou's book, is also in the works.

But for all the attention Holmes has received, it isn't clear whether she's watching any of it. Inside Edition Chief Investigative Correspondent Lisa Guerrero caught up with Holmes and her fiance while they were out walking their dog in San Francisco earlier this month, but Holmes refused to answer any questions, including about whether or not she had seen the HBO documentary. 

Holmes was once viewed as a brilliant inventor on a meteoric rise, sharing the stage with world leaders, gracing magazine covers and becoming a poster child for women in STEM careers. Holmes' company was once hailed as innovative for its breakthrough technology that claimed it could perform hundreds of lab tests using only a couple drops of blood. 

But the technology and the company, Theranos, were a "massive fraud," Securities and Exchange Commission investigators say. 

Holmes dropped out of Stanford University in March 2004 to run Theranos, and raised a staggering $6 million by December of that year. The company continued to grow, poaching high-level employees from Apple, and Holmes' star was on the rise.

In April 2015, she was labeled one of the Most Influential People in the World by Time, with a write-up by Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State and then a Theranos board member. In May 2015, Holmes was named the youngest self-made female billionaire in America by Forbes, thanks to what was at that point a $9 billion valuation of the company. A few months later, AZBio named Theranos 2015's Bioscience Company of the Year. 

But while Holmes' passion drew top talent to the company and convinced wealthy venture capitalists to invest, employees say it quickly became apparent that the technology they were working on wasn't adding up. And soon, it all came crashing down. 

A story by Carreyrou in the Wall Street Journal revealed that Theranos was not using its own blood-testing machine but rather traditional blood-testing mechanisms, as Theranos' design provided inaccurate results at times.

In May 2018, Holmes was charged with multiple counts of fraud for misleading investors, government officials and consumers about Therano's thechnology. Holmes denies any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty. In September 2018, Theranos officially shuttered its doors. Holmes is awaiting criminal trial and faces a prison sentence of 20 years, if convicted.

Holmes is due to appear in court later this month. 

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