As with most Ryan Murphy shows, viewers usually either love or hate American Horror Story. And with its campy, creepy, envelope-pushing storylines and characters, I’d definitely in the first camp of thought about it. This fall, AHS is coming back for a fourth season, promisingly titled American Horror Story: Freak Show, and I can’t wait to see what the batty showrunner has up his sleeve. One especially exciting aspect of the fourth series is its cast – in addition to many series regulars, Freak Show has been announced to include new blood like Michael Chiklis, Wes Bentley and now Finn Wittrock.
The casting of the All My Children alum, who worked with Murphy on the acclaimed HBO movie The Normal Heart and also had an arc on the Showtime series Masters of Sex, was revealed by Murphy via Twitter:
Thrilled to announce the very talented FINN WITTROCK has joined the cast of Freak Show!
— Ryan Murphy (@MrRPMurphy) July 24, 2014
So far, details about Freak Show have been promising. It’s set in Jupiter, Florida, in the 1950s, at one of the last surviving freak shows in the United States. Jessica Lange, in her last American Horror Story role, will be playing a German ex-pat who runs the show. Meanwhile, Sarah Paulson is returning to play conjoined twins Bette and Dot, and Evan Peters stars as the son of two other freaks (Kathy Bates and Chiklis) who also performs as a member of the freak show.
Frances Conroy, Emma Roberts, Jamie Brewer, Angela Bassett and Gabourey Sidibe all have unknown roles. Meanwhile, Denis O’Hare is playing “a collector of freaks” who is a rival of Lange’s lead, and Bentley is taking on the role of Eddie, a “dark tormentor” who wants revenge on Bates’ character for a past wrong.
FX CEO John Landgraf was recently asked about the tone of Freak Show and said the scripts “fall in between” the darkness of Asylum and the campiness of Coven:
“Some years it’s going to be big and bright and brash and campy the way Coven is. Other years it’s going to be dark and brooding—like Asylum was. I guess I would put Freak Show half-way in between the two. It’s not quite as brooding and formal and Hitchockian as Asylum, it’s got a little bit more humor and a little bit more camp, but its got a brooding period feel to it also.”
American Horror Story: Freak Show premieres this October.
