Jessica Lange is making a full-circle return to American Horror Story, reprising all four of her previous characters in season 13 — and adding a fifth role she's keeping under wraps. Speaking with Good Morning America on Tuesday, Lange explained that the chance to bring back her past characters, plus one she declined to name, drew her back to the anthology series.
"It really was just the idea of bringing those four characters back — and one mystery character that I'm not going to [spoil]," she said, adding, "There is a fifth character, but I won't say who that is, and I'd be curious if anybody can figure it out."
The four confirmed roles are Constance Langdon from season one's Murder House, Sister Jude Martin from season two's Asylum, Fiona Goode from season three's Coven, and Elsa Mars from season four's Freak Show. Lange earned two Emmys for the franchise — supporting actress in a miniseries or movie in 2012 for Murder House and lead actress in a miniseries or movie in 2014 for Coven — and was nominated in all four seasons.
While Lange said she was most eager to revisit Elsa, she noted that Constance holds a special place for showrunner Ryan Murphy. "She is featured pretty much throughout the whole thing," Lange said of Constance's presence in season 13.
Lange also revealed that Murphy sweetened the deal with a musical moment. "He did promise a musical number for one of the characters," she said. "I have to beg, borrow and plead to get anybody to let me sing."
The comeback caught fans off guard, since Lange had repeatedly said after leaving the show in 2015 that she wouldn't return. Evan Peters, who played her onscreen son Tate Langdon in Murder House and remains a frequent cast member of the franchise, told The Hollywood Reporter in January that even he didn't see it coming. "Ryan knows how to have those dinners. He will get you in a second. I was definitely shocked, but thrilled, honestly," Peters said.
AHS: 13 returns Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FX, streaming the following day on Hulu in the U.S. and internationally on Disney+.
Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons
