Ryan Murphy and John Landgraf on the Future of ‘American Horror Story’: ‘It’s Time We Get the Band Back Together’
by Emily Longeretta · VarietyRyan Murphy and John Landgraf are very busy — but they’re both determined to get more “American Horror Story” on screen.
“One of the reasons that I thought that ‘American Horror Story’ was such a brilliant idea was because Ryan loves to invent things. He loves to create worlds. ‘American Horror Story’ gave Ryan an opportunity to just create all these worlds,” the FX chairman told Variety while discussing the current season of “Grotesquerie,” which is currently airing on the network. “But having done it 12 years in a row, I think there was just an appetite for something different, something fresh. Both he and I were more excited about this, which is a complete departure, than doing another season.”
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That “never meant” that “AHS” was over, Landgraf explained. “It just meant, let’s rest that, and put Ryan’s creativity and sense of invention to work doing something different now.”
Murphy added that he’s “always working on” another season of “American Horror Story.” The anthology began with “Murder House” in 2011 featuring a stellar cast of Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, Evan Peters, Taissa Farmiga, Denis O’Hare, Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson — all of whom have popped up in later seasons of the series.
“I haven’t really landed on it yet. There’s a couple things in contention,” he said, before noting that while the show was always designed for actors to come in and out, he often thinks of “the original, gangster cast.”
“I did have a wonderful conversation with Sarah Paulson the other day, and she was like, ‘Okay, I think it’s time we get the band back together, so let’s make some calls here,'” Murphy said. Paulson, he said, noticed while on Broadway, that many fans were waiting to meet her because they’d been introduced to her on “AHS.”
“I think doing the play, she got to do this great new thing, and then also be like, ‘Oh, wow, people love that brand and they loved me in.’ We were just talking about how fascinating,” he told Variety. “So I’m gonna have dinner with Sarah and Evan Peters in the not too distant future, because they’re both dear to me. I love that show. I’ll never give up on that show.”
“American Horror Story” last aired in April 2024 with “Delicate.”