The actress is reprising four of her signature roles for Season 13 but is refusing to name a mystery fifth part she says fans might be able to guess.
Jessica Lange has a secret, and she's dangling it in front of everyone before American Horror Story Season 13 even airs.
The 77-year-old actress is back for the anthology's new season playing all four of her career-defining characters: Constance Langdon from Murder House, Sister Jude Martin from Asylum, Fiona Goode from Coven and Elsa Mars from Freak Show. That much was expected. What wasn't is a fifth character she's declined to name.
"I threw in an extra, that's kind of a mystery character," Lange said, according to Just Jared. Pressed to give something away, she offered only this much more: "There is a fifth character, but I won't say who that is, and I'd be curious if anybody can figure it out."
The reports differ slightly on where she said it. Just Jared has her making the reveal on Live with Kelly and Mark on Tuesday, while Variety attributes the same remarks to a Good Morning America appearance the same day. Either way, the news landed on the same Tuesday, two days before the season drops.
Lange also cleared up how the four-character return actually happened. Ryan Murphy, she said, first came to her wanting only Constance back, reportedly his favourite of her creations. Lange said she agreed on one condition: all four or none. "I said I'll come back if I can do all four characters," she told interviewers, per Just Jared. Of the lot, she named Elsa Mars, the carnival ringmistress from Freak Show, as the one she loved playing most.
There's a musical number in the mix too, and Lange is being coy about which character gets to sing it. "I have to beg, borrow and plead to get anybody to let me sing," she said, according to Variety. When GMA's Robin Roberts floated the idea that the number could be Grammy-worthy and complete an EGOT for Lange, the actress waved it off with a laugh. "I'm going to have to find a Grammy a different way," she said, all but confirming the character in question can't carry a tune.
None of this settles who the fifth character actually is, and that appears to be the point. Lange has spent decades building four of the most recognisable faces in the AHS universe, and the show has never been shy about doubling up on her within a single season. A fifth role, hidden until broadcast, fits the anthology's usual appetite for a twist nobody saw coming.
American Horror Story Season 13 premieres Thursday, September 24, at 9 p.m. On FX, with the episode streaming on Hulu after. Fans have roughly 48 hours from Lange's reveal to place their bets before the mystery character shows up on screen and the guessing stops mattering.
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