The Dropout

• Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes
• Naveen Andrews as Sunny Balwani

On April 10, 2019, Deadline Hollywood reported that Hulu had given the production a series order for 6 to 10 episodes. The series would be executive produced by Kate McKinnon; the host of The Dropout, Rebecca Jarvis; and its producers, Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson. The production company involved with this series is Searchlight Television, making this its inaugural production.[3] Upon the casting of Amanda Seyfried, she also joined the miniseries as a producer while Elizabeth Meriwether, Liz Heldens, Liz Hannah, and Katherine Pope joined Dunn and Thompson as executive producers.[1] On March 31, 2021, Michael Showalter and Jordana Mollick joined the limited series as executive producers. Showalter was also expected to direct several episodes.[6]

Kate McKinnon was also cast to star as Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of Theranos.[7] On February 18, 2021, McKinnon dropped out of the project. Though her departure did not come with an explanation, production moved forward without McKinnon.[8] On March 29, 2021, Amanda Seyfried was cast to replace McKinnon.[1] A day later, Naveen Andrews joined the main cast.[9] On June 10, 2021, William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Elizabeth Marvel, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Kate Burton, Stephen Fry, Michel Gill, Michael Ironside, Bill Irwin, and Josh Pais were cast in recurring roles.[10] On August 3, 2021, Dylan Minnette, Alan Ruck, Bashir Salahuddin, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Hart Bochner, James Hiroyuki Liao, Nicky Endres, Camryn Mi-Young Kim, and Andrew Leeds were cast in recurring roles.[11] On August 5, 2021, Sam Waterston, Kurtwood Smith and Anne Archer were cast in recurring roles.[12] On September 14, 2021, LisaGay Hamilton, Michaela Watkins, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kevin Sussman, Sam Straley, and Shaun Brown joined the cast in recurring capacities.[13]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the limited series holds a 89% approval rating based on 86 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Dropout succeeds more as a docudrama than a dark comedy, but Amanda Seyfried's disquieting portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes brings fresh blood to this retelling of recent history."[16] On Metacritic, the series has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17]

Caroline Framke of Variety found the miniseries very impressive for its genuine portrait of Elizabeth Holmes, acclaimed the performances of the actors, especially Amanda Seyfried and Naveen Andrews, and claimed that the show skillfully manages to cover Holmes' life throughout the years flawlessly with its edits.[18] Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter acclaimed Seyfried for her performance, while praising the supporting cast, complimented how the miniseries manages to depict Holmes and the different aspects of her personality, and found the characterization of Holmes' entourage the show's best feature.[19] Reviewing the series for Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall gave a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and described it as, "a maddening, gripping, and at times startlingly funny recreation of a story that would feel too absurd to be true if we didn't already know otherwise."[20] Beth Webb of Empire rated the series 4 out of 5 stars, praised the performance of Seyfried and Andrews, and found the show cohesive and entrancing.[21] Joyce Slaton of Common Sense Media rated the miniseries 4 out of 5 stars, praised the performances of the actors, and stated that the show illustrates Holmes went too far to make a positive impact on the world.[22]

According to Forbes, the miniseries spent one week in Nielsen's top ten streaming programs from March 7, 2022 to March 13, 2022.[23]