Trust Ryan Murphy, the mind behind Nip/Tuck, American Horror Story and the ever-addictive Feud: Bette & Joan, to get us excited about a show’s third season even before its second one has even aired. Following up the success of The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story the gleefully campy writer-director-producer has announced the latest casting notices for the third season in that FX anthology series. While the second season, titled Katrina, will deal with the aftermath of that New Orleans natural disaster, the subsequent storyline will fictionalize another 1990s headline-grabbing murder: that of famed fashion designer Gianni Versace.
In 1997, Versace was found dead at the front steps of his Miami beach mansion. The bloody incident shocked the world, especially once the man responsible, serial killer Andrew Cunanan, committed suicide 8 days later. Just as the OJ season, Versace: American Crime Story is based on a nonfiction book—Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth—and it looks like Murphy is assembling quite the cast. Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez will be playing the Italian designer, Glee‘s Darren Criss will be playing Cunanan, while Penelope Cruz is coming to television for the first time to play Gianni’s younger sister and fellow fashion royalty, Donatella Versace, who took over the company after his death.
Oh, and, in a move that already made us squeal like frenzied Menudo fans, Murphy went ahead and cast Ricky Martin as Gianni’s longtime romantic partner Antonio D’Amico. Those of us who grew up with Alcanzar una estrella II and even braved watching General Hospital to catch the swoon-worthy Puerto Rican singer flex his acting muscles cannot wait to see what Ricky will do with the role. At this point, we can’t imagine who else Murphy would need to add to this to get us more excited, but we also don’t want to jinx it. But really, Versace: American Crime Story, which starts filming later this month and will air sometime in 2018, cannot come soon enough.
UPDATE 6/27/17: It was recently announced that the production schedule had been changed and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story will air as season two (instead of three). It premieres in early 2018 on FX.