Cover Story

Creepy clowns and familiar faces grace ‘American Horror Story: Cult’

By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media

It’s taken us inside a coven, a freak show, an insane asylum and, of course, a good old-fashioned murder house and more. “American Horror Story” has given viewers a major case of the willies for six seasons, and a seventh is just around the corner. As always, details of the upcoming installment of the horror anthology have been kept to a minimum in the lead-up to the premiere, and fans of the series are eager to see what “Cult,” as the new season is subtitled, has to offer. Don’t miss the debut of “American Horror Story: Cult,” when it airs Tuesday, Sept. 5, on FX.

As an anthology series, “American Horror Story” explores a different theme every season. It welcomes back many of the same cast members from year to year, but, for the most part, they play different characters in a different time and setting. There has been the odd overlap, subtly connecting one season to another: Pepper (Naomi Grossman, “Fear, Inc.” 2016) and Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe, “The Whispers”), for instance, appeared in both “Asylum” and “Freak Show,” while series mainstay Sarah Paulson (“12 Years a Slave,” 2013) has reprised the characters of both Billie Dean Howard and Lana Winters in multiple seasons (“Murder House” and “Hotel,” and “Asylum” and “Roanoke,” respectively), along the first season in which series regular Rabe will with the show from the start. Fans were quick to voice their disappointment last season about how little they saw of Peters, an enduring favorite with viewers (he played two different characters, and between them, he still only appeared in four episodes). Peters fans can rest easy this season, though — creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy tweeted that in “Cult,” “More Evan you will get. This is his heaviest season yet.” This alone is more information than we can typically expect to get from Murphy, who is known for keeping “American Horror Story” details close to the vest prior to air time. Last season’s theme, title and cast were a mystery right up until the premiere, but showrunners have been more forthcoming — if characteristically cryptic — this time around.

We do know that it’s set in modern-day Michigan, has some connection to “Freak Show” and, most importantly, uses the 2016 election as a jumping-off point. This is worth taking note of, since no previous installment has been particularly timely or topical — and the setting is surely very deliberate, with Michigan, historically a blue state, having been quite divided during the election.

Murphy clarified this in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, confirming that this season will be all about “highlighting people who don’t have a voice in our culture — people who are ignored by the current administration and who are afraid and feel terrorized that their lives are going to be taken away.”

The show has been unlocking weekly hints via an interactive

Late Laughs

Conan website , AHSCult.com, which allows viewers to sign up and “join” the cult, complete with their own identification number. Promo videos are rife with some of the creepiest clowns you’ll ever care to see (painted in red and blue makeup, making use of subtle election imagery), and Murphy has hinted that “Freak Show’s” Twisty (John Carroll Lynch, “The Drew Carey Show”), “AHS’s” OG creepy clown, will be making an appearance this season. A number of other familiar faces appear in “Cult” as well. Adina Porter (“True Blood”), Emma Roberts (“Scream Queens”), Frances Conroy (“Six Feet Under”) and Cheyenne Jackson (“30 Rock”) are among the cast members confirmed to return this season, while Oscar winner Kathy Bates (“Misery,” 1990), who joined the cast in season 3’s “Coven,” and music superstar Lady Gaga, who appeared in the last two seasons, will officially not be returning this year due to scheduling conflicts. Several other “AHS” stalwarts are unconfirmed as of press time, including Denis O’Hare (“Dallas Buyers Club,” 2013) and Angela Bassett (“Malcolm X,” 1992), making it unlikely that they’ll have major parts this season, if they appear at all.

Fortunately, “Cult” welcomes a number of fresh faces to fill the void left by the dearly departed. Alison Pill (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” 2010) joins the cast as Ivy Mayfair-Richards, the wife of Paulson’s character, and comedian Billy Eichner (“Billy on the Street”) plays a character named Harrison Wilton. Past Murphy collaborators Billie Lourd (“Scream Queens”) and Leslie Grossman (“Popular”) join the show this season, and “Girls” star Lena Dunham is set to appear in at least one episode.

It’s certainly more information that fans are used to getting before a new season of “AHS” touches down. Executive producer Alexis Martin Woodall even complied when pushed for more details at a Television Critics Association panel, divulging: “bloody tension, a wellcooked meal, an exciting trip to a grocery story. It is true to our brand, which is you are going to be in a whole new world all over again, and fall in love with these really special characters and hate yourself for watching it before you go to bed.”

All will be made clear — to a point — when “American Horror Story: Cult” premieres Tuesday, Sept. 5, on FX.

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