[imagesource: Beth Dubber / Hulu]

There was a time when Elizabeth Holmes, founder and former CEO of Theranos, had the world at her feet.

At the age of 19, she dropped out of Stanford and founded the $9 billion Silicon Valley unicorn, quickly becoming a celebrated entrepreneurial icon.

She was even described by some as “the next Steve Jobs” as she became the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world.

Holmes and other Theranos employees claimed the company’s Edison machines could complete a full range of medical and clinical tests using just a few drops of blood from patients.

Next thing you know the much-heralded tech unicorn was ploughing through money and investors started asking tough questions, leading to Holmes eventually being indicted on multiple federal fraud and conspiracy charges.

She was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud as well as conspiracy to defraud investors in early January and faces up to 20 years behind bars on each count.

You may have watched The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, a doccie by Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, but now it’s time for a dramatic series chronicling one of Silicon Valley’s most epic meltdowns.

It’s titled The Dropout with more from The Verge:

The trailer traces the by-now-familiar arc of Holmes’ (Amanda Seyfried) story that began with her dropping out of Stanford to start what would eventually become Theranos and more recently saw the disgraced inventor being found guilty for defrauding Theranos’ investors.

Guided by ambition and a belief that she could will her visions into existence, Holmes crosses paths with key players in the Theranos story like Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews) and outsiders like professor Phyllis Gardner (Laurie Metcalf), who couldn’t help but express their doubts about the larger-than-life promises Holmes and her company were making.

The miniseries is based on a very popular 2019 podcast of the same name. Kate McKinnon was originally set to play Holmes but was later replaced by Seyfried.

Two big plusses – The Dropout also features William H. Macy and Stephen Fry:

The eight-episode series will hit Hulu on March 3.

[source:verge]