American Horror Story unveiled the first look at its cast for season 9 — called American Horror Story: 1984 — missing some fan favorites but including a few brand new faces. Series creator Ryan Murphy revealed the first footage of the actors on his Instagram account Thursday afternoon. Among familiar faces in the 1980s-themed catwalk were Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Cody Fern and Leslie Grossman — while Gus Kenworthy, Angelica Ross and Glee‘s Matthew Morrison — whose character’s rather large appendage beneath his shorter-than-short shorts was also a major surprise.
As implied by the teaser released earlier this year, AHS: 1984 will be an homage to slasher films of the 1980s, particularly the summer camp-set Friday the 13th. The general vibe appears to be very much in line with Murphy’s fan-favorite series Scream Queens, but AHS fans know not to expect too much from Thursday’s small announcement; the plot could quickly turn into a wildly different show given the series’ penchant for plot twists.
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Earlier this week, Variety reported that Sarah Paulson, who has appeared on every season of the anthology series, will not be starring in season 9, although she could at least have a cameo. Her previous shortest role in the series was as Billie Dean Howard, whom she played in only three episodes of season 1, Murder House.
Also sitting season 9 out is fan-favorite Evan Peters, who confirmed the news in April and hinted at it last year, saying he was left feeling burnt out after playing sinister roles on the show.
“It’s just exhausting. It’s really mentally draining, and you don’t want to go to those places ever in your life,” he told GQ last year. “And so you have to go there for the scenes, and it ends up integrating it somehow into your life. You’re in traffic and you find yourself screaming and you’re like, ‘What the hell? This isn’t who I am.’”
American Horror Story was already renewed for a 10th season, even though Murphy now has an overall deal with Netflix. AHS: 1984 will return on Sept. 18 on FX.
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