‘American Horror Story: Hotel’ spoilers: Will Emma Roberts, Lily Rabe return?

When the new season of “American Horror Story” comes on the air, it will be doing so with a variety of familiar faces in to. We know already that the likes of Lady Gaga, Matt Bomer, Cheyenne Jackson, Kathy Bates, and Sarah Paulson will be turning up at some point … but we also still know that there are some other longtime favorites that are missing in action at present.

Who are we talking about here specifically? Think along the lines of Emma Roberts, Lily Rabe, and Denis O’Hare. These are three favorites who have been around the series in some shape or form the past few years, but have yet to be announced for the new season. Granted, when it comes to Roberts she has a pretty great excuse. She is the star of the upcoming “Scream Queens,” and it feels pretty safe to assume that this is going to severely limit her availability on the season. According to Vanity Fair, she may still appear at some point near the end of the season. This same report says that O’Hare has a two-year contract for the show, so with that there is a pretty good chance that he will surface on the series at some point before we make it to the end of the road.

As for Lily Rabe, her status is somewhat of a mystery. She is currently set to appear in the ABC summer series “The Whispers,” which premieres come June 1. We wonder if either this role or simply creative tweaking is impacting whether or not she appears.

The one longtime cast member who appears unlikely to return is Frances Conroy, who is busy working on a movie.

If you did miss the big news yesterday about Max Greenfield of “New Girl” fame joining the series, you can read more about that over at the link here! Also, sign up to get some other TV updates on everything we cover, sent right to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: FX.)