Montauk's Cynthia Nixon Stars in 'Ratched' on Netflix

Montauk resident Cynthia Nixon co-stars in Ratched, the new Netflix series by mega-producer Ryan Murphy.

The show, which stars Sarah Paulson as vindictive and cruel mental institution nurse Mildred Ratched, is inspired by the Ken Kesey novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and subsequent film starring Jack Nicholson. The series is a mix of period melodrama, psychological thriller and horror and was developed by Murphy and Evan Romansky.

Netflix writes: “Ratched is a suspenseful drama series that tells the origin story of asylum nurse Mildred Ratched. In 1947, Mildred arrives in Northern California to seek employment at a leading psychiatric hospital where new and unsettling experiments have begun on the human mind. On a clandestine mission, Mildred presents herself as the perfect image of what a dedicated nurse should be, but the wheels are always turning and as she begins to infiltrate the mental health care system and those within it, Mildred’s stylish exterior belies a growing darkness that has long been smoldering within, revealing that true monsters are made, not born.”

Nixon plays Gwendolyn Briggs, the press secretary for the California governor, who falls in love with Nurse Ratched. “I meet Nurse Ratched, and I’m taken with her immediately,” Nixon told TODAY. “I ask her out, but I also think that the mental hospital that she works at could be the centerpiece of the governor’s re-election campaign as so many soldiers are coming back with PTSD, and so I try to merge these two things.”

Ratched is the latest show in Murphy’s major Netflix deal, which has also included the alternate history drama Hollywood and the satirical The Politician, featuring Amagansett’s Gwyneth Paltrow.