Anthology collection American Horror Story has been an FX staple since its debut in 2011, telling tales of every thing from ghosts and serial killers to witches, aliens, vampires, and extra. And whereas its absence from the 2025 Fall TV schedule meant that Halloween didn’t really feel fairly as spooky because it has lately, followers nonetheless ended up getting the last word deal with ultimately. Creator Ryan Murphy not solely confirmed that the present could be returning to our screens subsequent 12 months, however that it’s giving us the one factor that just about each fan has been clamoring for for the higher a part of the final decade: Jessica Lange is lastly coming again.
A cornerstone of the franchise who received two Emmys throughout her time on the present, it’s troublesome to overstate what a giant deal Lange’s return to the universe that launched her to a whole new technology of followers actually is. And it’s one thing most of us had lastly begun to simply accept would by no means occur. Lange departed the collection after its fourth installment, American Horror Story: Freak Present, and regardless of showing in a number of different Murphy-helmed tasks within the years since (Feud: Bette and Joan, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, The Politician), has been pretty adamant that she was carried out with this franchise. The truth is, the Oscar winner somewhat vehemently insisted as lately as this previous February that she’d ever step again into the world of AHS.
“Oh Christ, no,” Lange mentioned on the time. “I imply, I haven’t carried out it for greater than 10 years, 12 years, so, no, I’m not doing it.” (That is mainly Andrew Garfield in Spider-Man: No Manner Dwelling ranges of misdirection, and also you kind of should respect it.)
Although it has had its moments right here and there—the AIDS disaster metaphor in AHS: NYC was genuinely shifting, and the traditional slasher vibes of 1984 had been enjoyable—the AHS franchise has by no means actually been the identical since Lange left. Regardless of seasons that featured stars starting from Woman Gaga to Kim Kardashian, the present not often reached the campy or dramatic heights of its earliest installments. (Okay, wonderful, eighth outing American Horror Story: Apocalypse was genuinely superior, however it additionally technically concerned a shock look from Lange, who briefly reprised her Emmy successful Homicide Home function as Constance Langdon for an episode.)
