Cuba Gooding Jr., Sarah Paulson Headed to O.J. Simpson Miniseries

Cuba Gooding Jr. will play football legend/murder defendant O.J. Simpson in American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson, an upcoming FX anthology miniseries created by Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story). Sarah Paulson – who earned Emmy nominations for her roles in AHS: Asylum and AHS: Coven – will play lead prosecutor Marcia Clark on the show, which will focus on the infamous Nineties trial from the perspective of the lawyers.

Each season of American Crime Story will focus on a different true crime. The 10-episode People V. O.J. Simpson – based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book The Run of His Life: The People V. O.J. Simpson – will explore “the behind-the-scenes dealings and maneuvering on both sides of the court, and how a combination of prosecution confidence, defense wiliness and the LAPD’s history with the African-American community gave a jury what it needed: reasonable doubt.”

The season will be directed by Murphy, with at least the first two episodes co-written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs. Larry Flint). Murphy will executive produce with fellow American Horror Story co-creator Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson (The Hunger Games) & Brad Simpson, Alexander, Karaszewski and Dante Di Loreto. Production is expected to begin in Los Angeles early next year. 

Gooding Jr. – best known for his Oscar-winning supporting role in 1996’s Jerry Maguire – is also set to appear as civil rights activist Fred Gray in the upcoming historical drama Selma, which focuses on the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965. 

Murphy is also working on another anthology series, the horror-comedy Scream Queens, which will debut next fall on Fox. The 15-episode season will star Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Roberts.