FXKathy Bates and Jessica Lange could both be gone off of American Horror Story after the current season. But not if co-creator Ryan Murphy has his way!
Murphy revealed that he has asked only three cast members so far to return for the show's fifth season, which was just given the official green light by FX.
We knew Lange and Sarah Paulson had been approached, and now, Bates confirms she has been, too. But will she do it? Or is it time to take a breather?
"I love getting these fantastic characters to play," Bates tells us, "and Ryan's told me that he wants me to come back next year and it's getting hard to refuse, let me tell you! Everything's grown so much even since last year. It's amazing. I can't believe it."
Mmm-hmm. Right. So then. Don't leave!
Bates is one-third of what is shaping up to be TV's weirdest/freakiest love triangle, and viewers will get the first glimpse of it on AHS tonight.
Really, it's your typical boy meets girl story. Or rather, girl meets girl with a beard, knocks her up, and then falls in love with a hermaphrodite with three boobs.
We've all been there.
Tonight, we are introduced to newcomer Michael Chiklis, and his main squeeze, Angela Basset (the hermaphrodite). They come into the fold when their trailer rolls on up to Elsa Mars' freak show camp, and let's just say….Kathy Bates is NOT pleased. And for good reason!
"I have to say, I've played a lot of dark characters in my career and this guy is the most damaged and haunted and disturbed person I've ever played by far," Chiklis says of his character, Del Tolledo, The Strongman who clearly has interesting taste in women. "To put it delicately, he is a really confused and complex person who is ironically a strong man because in many ways, he's not strong at all. There's a lot of bravado and interestingly...There's a lot of fragility there. You have to rely on your physical strength to make a living and if anything happens to that, where are you?"
Farther down the road this season, we'll also see Chiklis interact with Matt Bomer in a scene that Ryan Murphy calls "the most disturbing thing we've ever done." Chills on top of chills, yo.
Murphy is keeping the dynamic between Chilklis and Bates' characters close to the vest, but does hint at the origin of their struggle: "They have quite a sordid past together and that's been something that we've enjoyed researching. Because a lot of these real life carney performers, in the 20s and 30s, were huge stars and were making thousands of dollars a week which back then was a lot. And then the 50s came and they were no longer wanted or needed and they were penniless and outlawed in some states. So we go into all of that, and Angela has a big part in their story."
In the video interviews below, you will see more about what to expect from these characters, and perhaps most importantly: Kathy Bates spilling the beans on whether she'll return for AHS season five!
You can also hear us break the news to Angela Basset that that other three-boobed woman was a hoax. Nice to see someone else was gullible!