“American Horror Story” Season 13 premieres this week, September 24, on FX and Hulu, and it’s an all-star season with returning favorites reprising not just one but multiple characters. That’s especially true for Jessica Lange, who teases she’s playing not four but five characters this season.
It turns out that playing so many characters was Lange’s stipulation before she’d return. Lange said on Tuesday’s episode of Live With Kelly and Mark that she only agreed to come back if she could play all four of her characters from previous seasons.
Of the current season, Lange said that “everybody is a returning character, pretty much,” and that her experience “was great because I like all four of those characters. It was fun to play them, and, coming back, it was great to do them again.”
She also teased an additional: “I threw in an extra, that’s kind of a mystery character,” revealing for the first time that she actually plays five different characters across AHS’ 13th season.
Lange previously played Constance and Sister Jude Martin on seasons 1 and 2, respectively, before returning as witch Fiona Goode on 2013’s AHS: Coven and circus leader Elsa Mars in 2014’s AHS: Freak Show. The latter was the final installment that Lange led before she returned in a guest role on American Horror Story: Apocalypse in 2018.
Who could the fifth character be? It definitely won’t be a new character that could appear in future seasons, as the actress shot down host Kelly Ripa when asked.
The new season will consist of 13 half-hour episodes, with the finale arriving just in time for Halloween.
The cast includes Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe, Leslie Grossman, Joey Pollari, and Jessica Lange. The epic cast also features Avantika, Jamie Brewer, Elle Chapman, Berto Colon, Alex Consani, Frances Conroy, Mat Fraser, Seth Gabel, Orlando Jones, Paul Anthony Kelly, John Carroll Lynch, Tig Notaro, Madelaine Petsch, Fedor Steer, Mena Suvari, Zach Villa, John Waters, and more.
Creator Ryan Murphy calls “AHS 13” a “greatest hits season.”