If you ever thought, Hey, I’d love a spinoff of Once Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest but from the point of view of the one character who doesn’t talk, we have great news…There will soon be a series that centers around Chief Bromden, the Native American mute who was literally a breakout character in the 1975 film.
Producer Paul Zaentz — the nephew of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest producer Saul Zaent, who won the Best Picture Oscar alongside Michael Douglas — recently revealed that an agreement has been made over how the show will work. “Just now, I’ve signed an agreement with Ken Kesey’s widow to develop a TV series which we’ll make through the point of view of the Chief for the first season. Following the first season, we’ll see what happens to the Chief after he escapes [from the psychiatric hospital].” If that sounds like a strange approach, it’s worth noting that Kesey’s original 1962 book was narrated by Chief Bromden, so it’s really not that peculiar from that perspective.
The yet-to-be-named One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest spinoff won’t be the first time that characters have been expanded on. In 2020, we saw the release of Ryan Murphy’s Ratched, which took place before the events of the 1975 film, with Sarah Paulson playing Nurse Mildred Ratched, the role for which Louise Fletcher won the Best Actress Oscar. That win, along with Best Picture, Best Director (Milos Forman), Best Actor (Jack Nichsolson), and Best Screenplay made Cuckoo’s Nest just the second film ever to win the Big Five. It was preceded by 1934’s It Happened One Night and later matched by 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs.
Just as Ratched failed to come back for a second season, it’s hard to see how a series centering around Chief could work; even if Zaentz has a vision for seasons beyond the first, there just doesn’t seem to be enough there to explore. And considering even Ryan Murphy couldn’t make Ratched work, it’s tough to envision this one faring any better.
On the trivia side, an early episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia featured a parody of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; not only did Always Sunny’s Danny DeVito play Martini in the film but original Chief portrayer Will Sampson’s son, Tim, appeared in that episode in a twist on the Chief character.
What do you make of a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest series centering on Chief? Could it work or is it a crazy attempt to link to a classic?
