Winter TV Preview: The scoop on 13 new shows

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ (FX, Jan. 17 at 10 p.m.)

The one-sentence pitch: “Like it’s titled, it’s about the murder of Gianni Versace, but what the show is really about is what leads up to that murder,” says ACS executive producer Brad Simpson. “And most people who know about Versace know he was murdered by Andrew Cunanan, but they probably don’t know that he was the final victim in a killing spree.”

What to expect: “This season is a very different flavor. It’s a different mood, it’s a different type of crime, and a different type of storytelling,” Simpson says of the new season, which unfolds Cunanan’s crime in a nonlinear fashion, beginning with Versace’s murder and revealing Cunanan’s other victims in reverse chronological order. “We felt like it was important to not have the audience spend eight episodes waiting for that murder to happen, so we get right to the most famous murder. Then … we’ve all seen stories of the evolution of a killer, where you follow someone as they commit their first murder, climaxing with something bigger. We thought it was more interesting to do it in reverse, tell you the whole story in reverse, go victim by victim into the past and really try to understand not just who these other victims were but also why [Cunanan] ended up on this path.”

Glee-ful cast: Penelope Cruz as Donatella Versace, Edgar Ramirez as Gianni, Ricky Martin as Versace’s boyfriend Antonio, as well as memorable performances from Judith Light, Finn Wittrock, Dascha Polanco, Mike Farrell, Max Greenfield, and newcomer Cody Fern pepper the season, but it’s singer and Glee alum Darren Criss, as Cunanan, who is most mesmerizing as the undeniably charming, and disturbed, serial killer. “Versace and Andrew Cunanan were both born into circumstances in which they were gay men with ambition, with taste, and who people genuinely liked,” Simpson says. “Andrew was very well-liked until a certain age. … We wanted to explore what sets one off on the path to becoming this great creator, and what sets the other on the path to being this destroyer.” — KP

Winter TV Preview: The scoop on 13 new shows