Amanda Seyfried Says She Initially Passed on Playing Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes may have just been in it for the “Money, Money, Money” but that doesn’t mean Amanda Seyfried is!

On Feb. 24, Seyfried revealed that she initially turned down the role of disgraced Theranos founder, Holmes, in Hulu’s new limited series The Dropout. Back in 2019, Seyfried was offered the role after Kate McKinnon, who was set to play Holmes, left the project to work on Peacock’s Tiger King–inspired series, Joe vs Carole.

And at first, the Mamma Mia star wasn’t interested. 

“Listen, I was having a f––king moment, OK?” she said to The Hollywood Reporter. “I had COVID. I was isolating in the basement of a gross townhouse in Savannah, Georgia, because my husband was working on a movie there. And now an L.A. shoot? Pass!”

But once her fever subsided the next morning, she had a change of heart. She explained that she was thinking to herself, “It’s really going to be difficult,” she said. “It’s a huge challenge. But I can’t believe that I get a challenge like this.'”