'American Horror Story' co-creator Ryan Murphy was supposed to make 'Orange Is the New Black' but he blew the opportunity

How different would "Orange Is the New Black" have been if Ryan Murphy produced it? That was a very real possibility.

Apparently, the "American Horror Story" co-creator originally owned the rights to Piper Kerman's memoir before the Netflix show's current creator, Jenji Kohan.

"I just could never figure out how to do it," Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter. "And then the option lapsed, and it became this great big thing …"

What brought the producer and writer to admit to such a loss?

In the THR cover interview, Murphy recounted the 2008 FX pilot that never got made, "Pretty/Handsome," which told the story of a married man's gender transition. It, of course, sounds very much like the hit series from Amazon, "Transparent."

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life because I thought the story was so beautiful, just like I think [Amazon's] 'Transparent' is beautiful," he said. "And then I get a call from John Landgraf: 'It's not going.' "

Landgraf, FX's president and GM, said that the show needed more nudity than the network would have been able to air.

Well, clearly, "OITNB" ended up where it needed to land. And Murphy is making the kinds of shows he's excels at: Fox's "Scream Queens," FX's "American Horror Story: Hotel," and the upcoming "American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson.

NOW WATCH: Lil Wayne says Drake is getting screwed out of money by his record label

Please enable Javascript to watch this video