American Crime Story season 3 will tackle the murder of Gianni Versace

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American Crime Story has just been renewed for a third series that will tackle the 1997 murder fashion designer Gianni Versace.

Versace was assassinated on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by sociopath and serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who murdered four other people before killing himself.

RyanMurphy

The third series of the hit Ryan Murphy show will be titled Versace/Cunanan, and will apparently be written and filmed simultaneously with the show’s second series, which tackles the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

It’s based on Maureen Orth’s 1999 book Vulgar Favors, which covers the murder of Versace and the resulting manhunt for Cunanan, attempting to offer a psychological profile of the killer.

US network FX accelerated production after reading the first script and clearly being impressed by it. It’s expected that showrunner Murphy will direct the first episode.

Versace, born in 1946, founded the iconic fashion house that boasts his name, and ran the company until his death. He was survived by his partner, model and designer Antonio D’Amico, who now runs his own fashion company.

American Crime Story’s first series, The People v. O.J. Simpson, picked up 10 Emmy Awards this year, including Outstanding Miniseries.

Murphy recently opened up about the issues he had with “very homophobic” studio executives while making Popular, one of his earlier shows.

He’s hoping to do better himself though, and has committed to hiring a diverse directing team, including women and ethnic minorities, across all his shows by the end of this year.