Strap yourselves in: A Nurse Ratched origin story is headed to Netflix! You may not have asked for a prequel TV series to the multi-Oscar-winning film One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest or the Oscar-winning role made infamous by Louise Fletcher, but you're getting it anyway. Netflix weathered stout competition for Ratched, a new project from Emmy-winner Ryan Murphy that sees Golden Globe-winner Sarah Paulson taking on the title role. Michael Douglas, who's won two Oscars if we're keeping track, will executive produce alongside Murphy.

As Deadline reports, Netflix won out on a two-season, 18-episode, straight-to-series order over Hulu and Apple. Fox 21 TV Studios aims to start production in the middle of next year with Murphy directing the premiere. Evan Romansky wrote the script on spec; Murphy then ran with it, setting Paulson in the lead and locking down rights for the better part of a year.

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Image via The Weinstein Company

Ratched will follow the nurse's progress through the mental health care system from well-intentioned nurse to all-out antagonist. Could this be a new Breaking Bad in the making? Regardless of how it's received, Ratched will be Murphy's first streaming series. It also makes for the sixth on-air series for the prolific producer, joining American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Pose, Feud and 911.

Paulson, currently starring in the seventh iteration of American Horror Story, subtitled "Cult", is next set to star in the lead of Murphy's American Crime Story follow-up season, "Katrina." She'll shift to Ratched after wrapping that role, one that may just put her on the shortlist for next year's award season. Additionally, Paulson stars in Steven Spielberg's journalism-vs-government movie The PostGary RossOcean's Eight, and M. Night Shyamalan's surprise sequel, Glass. Expect the award-winning actor to be all over your TV and movie headlines for the next year or so, and keep an eye out for her turn in Ratched.