How does Ryan Murphy raise the bar on the third season of his horror hit ‘American Horror Story?’ He gets an Oscar Winning actress to play opposite Oscar winner Jessica Lange, that’s how! Murphy has announced that Kathy Bates will be joining the cast in a season that will “really be about female power.”
Bates is just off her recently cancelled NBC series ‘Henry’s Law,’ but NBC’s loss is FX’s gain. The accomplished actress has starred in many films and TV shows but it’s her Oscar winning performance as Annie Wilkes as the crazed #1 fan of author Paul Sheldon in the film ‘Misery’ that most genre fans may know her from. She also played the Queen of Hearts in Syfy’s ‘Alice,’ a rendition of the classic ‘Alice in Wonderland’ tale.
But, according to Murphy, her role as Jessica Lange’s former best friend and arch nemesis in the upcoming season of ‘American Horror Story’ is “five times worse than [her] Misery character” which is what sold the role to Bates:
“When I pitched this to Kathy, her mouth was drop-jawed because what I was pitching actually happened. It’s a true event… You’ll see. It’s some good stuff… Her [character] is a bad, bad woman!”
Besides Lange, Bates will be joining returning cast members Frances Conroy, Taissa Farmiga, Jessica Lange, Lily Rabe, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Lily Rabe, who will all be playing new personas.
Season 3 is said to be a little lighter in tone than ‘American Horror Story: Asylum’ which will be a pleasant change to the very dark and disturbing season that just aired. Murphy himself has said that the next anthology will feature an “evil glamour” and there have been rumors that witches may be part of the story line. What is confirmed, though, is that the season will be more historical with a few jumps through different time periods:
“What season three is about is more historical in nature. I’m also interested in getting into a horror romance. That’s certainly something that’s going to be in the water for season three. You’re going to see a very different tone in season three, but that’s the joy of the show. I think as a person right now I do feel lighter and wanting to embrace something a little bit more fun.”
After the what-else-can-we-do-to-shock-you season of ‘Asylum,’ it will be good to see Lange back in a sassier character like the role of Constance she played in the first season. Although, I did enjoy the musical number she did this year.
So what do you think of Bates’ inclusion to the cast? Do you think she’ll make a formidable enough frenemy to Lange? Let us know in the comments.
Source: TVLine
