Jessica Lange's first answer about returning to AHS was 'Christ, no' — Ryan Murphy's winning argument took one word
She walked away after Freak Show and later answered the comeback question with a curse. Tonight Jessica Lange is back on FX, and Ryan Murphy's version of how he got her there fits in one word.
American Horror Story 13 premieres tonight, Thursday, September 24, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on FX, with three episodes at once. They stream on Hulu at the same time. After tonight the schedule runs three more episodes on October 1, then two a week through the October 29 finale, per Just Jared. The biggest name on the call sheet is one who swore she was done.
At the season's New York premiere on September 23, Ryan Murphy told E! News exactly how he talked Jessica Lange back into the franchise. It was not the script:
"Alcohol!" — Ryan Murphy, on how he got Jessica Lange to return
"Christ, no!" and a dinner
The joke has a real story behind it. Murphy told Deadline that a year before he signed her, a reporter asked Lange if she'd come back, and her answer was "Christ, no!" or something close to it. He invited her to dinner and pitched the idea. Her side of that dinner, as she told it on the September 22 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark:
"Ryan Murphy talked me into coming back. First, he talked to me about playing Constance, which I think was his favorite character that I did. But I said I'll come back if I can do all four characters." — Jessica Lange
Murphy says he answered, "OK, great." The four are:
- Constance Langdon, the neighbor from hell in Murder House (2011). Her first Emmy for the show.
- Sister Jude, who ran Briarcliff in Asylum (2012).
- Fiona Goode, the Supreme in Coven (2013). Her second Emmy for the show.
- Elsa Mars, the ringmaster of Freak Show (2014), the last season she led.
Everybody else is back too
Lange isn't alone. Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Emma Roberts, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Frances Conroy, Gabourey Sidibe, Billie Lourd and Leslie Grossman all return. Murphy has described the season as an "Avengers-style crossover" of every earlier installment rather than a straight Coven sequel.
Murphy also said at the premiere that working with actors of that level on a horror show "changed" his life. Back in 2011, he said, not many actors of that level were doing horror. By the end of tonight's three episodes, viewers get the first look at how he fit four Langes into thirteen episodes.
Previously we wrote: Billie Lourd's kids are getting to know Carrie Fisher through Star Wars — in one scene, Leia is actually their mom
