Kirsten Dunst is officially returning to the small screen. She’ll follow up her Emmy-nominated role in FX’s “Fargo” with “On Becoming a God in Central Florida,” a dark comedy that just received a series order from YouTube Premium. Variety confirmed the news.
Previously in development at AMC, the Orland0-set project explores the “cult of free enterprise and one young woman’s relentless pursuit of the American dream,” according to the source. The show takes place in the 1990s and centers on “Krystal Gill (Dunst), a minimum-wage-earning water park employee who will eventually scheme her way up the ranks of Founders American Merchandise: the cultish, flag waving, multi-billion dollar pyramid scheme that drove her family to ruin.”
“On Becoming a God in Central Florida’s” first season consists of 10 episodes and is scheduled to premiere in 2019. Dunst and Etsa Spalding (“Masters of Sex”) are among the project’s executive producers. The latter will serve as showrunner.
Since “Fargo,” Dunst has stuck to work on the big screen, including roles in “The Beguiled” and “Hidden Figures.” She’s signed on to make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of “The Bell Jar,” Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel about a depressed young writer. Dakota Fanning will star. In May 2017 Dunst revealed that she was struggling to generate financial support for the project. “People are afraid of the name Sylvia and that this is a depressing movie, which it’s not at all,” she told Vanity Fair. “It’s always harder for women. Everyone has to work 10 times harder.”