‘American Horror Story: Hotel’: Former star Francis Conroy books new comedy role

Is the entire cast of “American Horror Story” getting completely remade for the new season? Given all of the castings happening elsewhere for some longtime stars of the show, we are beginning to wonder.

You already knew from PaleyFest that Jessica Lange is not returning, and given that she is on “American Crime Story,” the precise role for Sarah Paulson also appears to be reasonably unclear. Michael Chiklis has a new pilot, and given the success of “Empire,” Gabourey Sidibe will most likely continue to be busy. This is a lot of change! Maybe most of these people could appear, but it probably will not be too often. Now, the latest person to be added to this list is Frances Conroy, who has played a variety of important characters over the past few years and has really been an unsung hero.

According to a report from Deadline, Conroy will be appearing in the new Hulu comedy “Casual,” which is executive produced by Jason Reitman, who will pen the show’s first episode. She is set to play the part of Dawn in the series, the mother of two other characters and someone with the innate ability to manipulate her children into giving her precisely what she wants. This is a role that should be very fun, given that we just saw her give just about everything to Dandy Mott on this past “American Horror Story” season.

As we said, the odds are still very much there that Conroy could end up being a part of the new “American Horror Story” season, but depending on filming schedules, her time will be even more at a premium than it usually is.

How many longtime regulars do you think will actually come back on this upcoming season? Share with a comment, and head over here in the event you want to get some not-so-horrible TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: FX.)