The Third Season Of “American Crime Story” Will Focus On The Murder Of Gianni Versace

The second season of American Crime Story hasn’t even started filming yet, but FX has already ordered and fast-tracked a third season, which will be all about insane serial killer Andrew Cunanan and Gianni Versace’s murder in 1997. Somewhere in the Scientology Celebrity Centre bathhouse, John Travolta busted out of his private massage room and ran off to work on his Italian accent and search his closet for Versace silk shirts from the 90s.

From April 25, 1997 to July 15, 1997, Andrew Cunanan went on a killing spree and murdered five men including Gianni Versace who was his last victim. Eight days after he murdered Versace, Cunanan killed himself in a houseboat in Miami. I still remember my young gay self watching live footage of the police swarming that houseboat. Deadline says that the third season of ACS will be based on the book Vulgar Favors by Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth. Here’s a little synopsis of it:

In chilling detail, Maureen Orth reveals how Andrew Cunanan met his superstar victim…why police and the FBI repeatedly failed to catch Cunanan…why other victims’ families stonewalled the investigation…controversial findings of the Versace autopsy report, and more. Here is a late-century odyssey that races across America from California’s wealthy gay underworld to modest midwestern homes of families mourning their slaughtered sons to the celebration of decadence that is Versace’s South Beach. It is at once a landmark work of investigative journalism and a riveting account of a sociopath, his savage crimes, and the mysteries he left along the way.

FX was not planning to pick up a third season of ACS so quickly, but they were really into the script for the first episode.

The third season will be called Versace/Cunanan: American Crime Story and filming will start next spring, at almost the same time that the second season, which is about Hurricane Katrina, starts shooting. Ryan Murphy will direct the first episode of both the second and third season.

And as for casting…

Deadline says that producers have already started talking to actors for the title roles and are also in negotiations with an “A-list actress” for the role of Donatella Versace.

I was half-joking about Travolta playing Versace, but no part of me would be shocked if that happened. Darren Criss seems like a shoo-in for Cunanan. Like Cunanan, he’s half-Filipino and he’s the right age. He’s also one of Ryan Murphy’s favorites. And my choice for Donatella is:

ANYFUCKINGBODY BUT LADY GAGA!!!!!

Only Lady Gaga would consider Lady Gaga an “A-list actress,” so I don’t think she’s going to be Donatella. They should be “negotiating” with either Gina Gershon or Maya Rudolph, but they’re probably talking to someone like Goopy Paltrow or Charlize Theron or Jessica Lange (I WISH!) or Janice the Muppet, who was truly born to play that role.

Pic: Getty