Jessica Lange Not Returning to ‘American Horror Story’

Jessica Lange is parting ways with American Horror Story for good. After starring in the FX anthology series’ first four seasons and briefly returning in Season 8, the actress, who currently stars on director Ryan Murphy’s recently released Netflix original The Politician, opened up to Entertainment Weekly about the possibility of fans seeing her in any future seasons of AHS, which has been renewed through Season 10.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I feel like I got the best of it in those first four seasons. Great characters. It was exciting to do. I worked with some of my favorite actors but I can’t see that we could ever get back to that.”

Lange was a major player in the FX horror anthology series’ early seasons, playing the likes of Murder House‘s steel magnolia Constance Langdon, stern nun Sister Jude in Asylum, Supreme witch Fiona Goode in Coven, and Freak Show matriarch Elsa Mars, two of those roles earning her Emmy wins. But while central to the cast throughout the first four seasons, she was notably absent from the franchise until she reprised her Murder House role in 2018’s Apocalypse, appearing in just a single episode.

“Just that tiny little reprise, that part, that was enough,” she told EW.

This is not the first time that the actress has addressed her potential return to the series. Speaking to The Daily Beast in 2017, Lange claimed that she had signed on to the series only anticipating to appear in a single season.

“I’ll miss it, but I think in some way I had never intended to do more than one season, and then reconsidered and decided to do three more,” she said.

As fans know, Lange quickly became Murphy’s muse, and she has gone on to star in a number of his other works, including The Politician, on which she portrays Dusty Jackson. In her interview with EW, Lange also teased that there could potentially be more in the future.

“We’re trying to develop this piece on [Marlene] Dietrich, from those kind of Las Vegas years to the end,” she said. “We’ve got a really good script that Michael Cristofer wrote. At one time, Ryan thought he might want to direct it but he’s got a thousand other things that are going on. I don’t particularly want to wait. So, if we can get this going next year it’ll be great. Ryan will produce and I can sing like Dietrich because she had a very limited range.”

New episodes of American Horror Story: 1984 air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on FX. The Politician is available for streaming on Netflix.