American Crime Story: Annette Bening Joins FX Anthology for Katrina Season

She’s put in time with The American President, and now Annette Bening is turning her attention to state-level government.

The Oscar-nominated actress has joined the Hurricane Katrina-focused Season 2 of FX‘s American Crime Story, TVLine has learned. She will play Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who led the state during and after the devastating 2005 storm.

Bening recently was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in 20th Century Women; other notable films include American Beauty, The Kids Are Alright, Bugsy and The Grifters. Early in her career, she logged guest spots in TV series like Miami Vice and Wiseguy.

American Crime Story will reunite the actress with Ryan Murphy, who directed her in the 2006 movie Running With Scissors.

Season 2 of the critically acclaimed series won’t launch until 2018, network boss John Landgraf told reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. The main reasons: scripts (“It’s just taking time, frankly, to get material we’re happy with”) and weather (“When you’re shooting in New Orleans, you have to worry about hurricanes… You can only shoot there during certain times of the year.”).

Also in the American Crime Story pipeline: Season 3, which will center on serial killer Andrew Cunnan’s murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace, and a possible Season 4, which would revolve around the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky sex scandal and President Clinton’s subsequent impeachment and acquittal. The Emmy-winning first season, of course, retold the story of O.J. Simpson, who ultimately was found not guilty of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman.