Amanda Seyfried's Emmy-Winning Miniseries Just Hit a Major Streaming Milestone

Published Oct 22, 2026, 8:46 AM EDT Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows. In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA. The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos, is one of the stranger stories of the 21st century, given that she successfully deceived members of the media, politicians, and patients around the world into believing that an invention that was too good to be true actually worked. Although retelling events already covered extensively within journalistic reports and documentaries risked being opportunistic, Holmes’ dramatic ostracization and legal consequences had the makings of a great story begging to be adapted. What Is 'The Dropout' About? Hulu's The Dropout, based on the award-winning podcast of the same name, went beyond the attention-grabbing headlines to deliver a thoughtful analysis of how Theranos was able to gain so much clout, despite offering no concrete evidence that its technology was effective. The hook of the series is Amanda Seyfried completely transforming into Holmes, the authenticity of which resulted in an Emmy win. It's no surprise that the show is currently experiencing a resurgence on streaming charts four years after its initial premiere. The Dropout covers Holmes’ decision to drop out of Stanford University at 19, with the intention of becoming a billionaire entrepreneur like her hero, Steve Jobs. During the period when the idea of Theranos was conceived, Holmes entered into a complicated relationship with grad student Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews), who becomes both her mentor and lover. The Dropout is an expansive exploration of the various parties involved in the scandal, and does a good job of acknowledging how Theranos exposed failings within the healthcare system, business oversight, and the ease with which the media lionizes singular inventors. However, the heart of the show is the cult of personality surrounding Holmes, with Seyfried offering a peek behind the curtain at someone who never truly showed their true nature to the cameras. ‘The Dropout’ Unravels a Stranger-Than-Fiction Story Image via Hulu The Dropout succeeds at being a work of entertainment, as well as a revelatory insight into recent history, because the show doesn't turn Holmes into a caricature, nor does it deny that she was clearly very intelligent. It would be absurd to claim that her desire to defraud investors and scam millions into believing false medical information was an act of purely spiteful villainy, and the series depicts how the feat of her imagination often outpaced her ability to deliver on promises. There isn’t just one motivation that guides Holmes’ journey, as the series explores how her father’s involvement in the Enron scandal, her own experiences with sexual assault, her early rejection by Stanford professors, and her desire to be seen as an inspiration lead to a cavalcade of lies. Seyfried nails the shifting behavior of someone constantly performing; Holmes is so committed to creating a self-constructed image that she’s drawn into a delusion of belief. The Dropout also smartly acknowledges that the situation is patently ridiculous and leads to an inherent level of dark comedy, specifically in showing how a young woman was able to charm so many high-ranking members of government and industry into signing on to a project they hadn’t personally looked into. Seyfried is fearless in exploring some of the quirks of Holmes’ personality, with a scene of her dancing in front of a poster of Jobs being a specifically amusing moment lifted straight from the podcast. At the same time, The Dropout doesn’t diminish Balwani's manipulation, which comes across as terrifying thanks to a strong performance by Andrews. It also addresses the extent of the damage that Theranos caused, which is much less of a laughing matter than billionaires making bad bets. Not only did patients make personal health decisions based on test results that were either outdated or completely inaccurate, but the fall of such a prominent independent entrepreneur slanted the media against other outsiders who wanted to change the system. ‘The Dropout’ Examines the Enigma of Elizabeth Holmes Seyfried’s performance successfully emulates the unusual mannerisms Holmes displayed in public during her meteoric transformation into a media icon, but the show examines the bravery of those who called out the conspiracy in a quite moving way. One of the most powerful dynamics in the show is between former United States Secretary of State George Schultz (Sam Waterston), an early advocate for Holmes, and his grandson Tyler (Dylan Minnette), who became the first whistleblower within Theranos. To see how Holmes’ ruthlessness caused a rift between a family is heartbreaking, as the examination of how the Schultz family was centered in the scandal is well-observed. There is also a conscious effort to examine how the press was called upon to not simply accept the propaganda that they were being fed, with Ebon Moss-Bachrach turning in a strong performance as John Carreyrou, whose articles for The Wall Street Journal about Theranos earned him the Pulitzer Prize and inspired the podcast on which The Dropout is based. Although it shouldn’t be mistaken for a documentary, The Dropout is a classic tale of ambition and excess that relishes in the dramatic potential of a story that blew the roof off of sacred institutions. It’s a fast-paced, modern show that finds creative ways to explore rapidly evolving technology, but it also confronts a tough reality about the ease at which systems can be manipulated. Recent events make it unlikely that the Theranos saga will ever die, but The Dropout became a distinct achievement in its own right.