‘American Crime Story: Katrina’ to Air in 2018, Before ‘Versace’

Fans of the Emmy-winning “American Crime Story” franchise, from executive producer Ryan Murphy, will have to wait until 2018 for the next installment.

FX Networks CEO John Landgraf announced Thursday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour that “Katrina,” the highly anticipated followup to “American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson,” won’t arrive until 2018. It will be quickly followed by “Versace,” which will explore the 1997 murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.

“They’re going to have a long hiatus, and then we’re going to get back on cycle,” said Landgraf. “They’re going to air within about six months of each other.” He also dismissed any speculation that the order would be swapped, saying “That’s not the plan.” Though “Versace” will shoot first, “Katrina” will air ahead of it.

Landgraf attributed to the delay to production issues. “When you’re shooting in New Orleans, you have to worry about hurricanes,” he said.

“We’d developed ‘People V O.J.’ and we had it ready to go and Ryan stepped in,” he said. “We just have really high ambitions. It’s not a lurid true crime series. It’s taken time.”

The first installment of the anthology series has garnered heaps of awards, including a record 10 Emmy wins.

Season three, “Versace,” will be based on the book “Vulgar Favors” by Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth. Tom Rob Smith will write the first two episodes in the season as well as subsequent episodes.

Murphy also broke the news at TCA that Lady Gaga, who starred in “American Horror Story: Hotel,” would not play Donatella Versace.

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