American Horror Story: Cult spoilers: Kathy Bates not returning
According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, Bates is going to be unable to appear over the course of season 7 due to her commitments to her upcoming Netflix comedy Disjointed. In all honesty, we’re surprised that this didn’t happen before this season, given that Bates has been a part of the past four installments in one way or another and she’s always in demand.
We’ll also be the first to say that we wish American Horror Story had done more with her on some of these past seasons. Her roles in both Freak Show and Hotel were the best things about both of those seasons, but seeing her end on Freak Show when it happened was far too soon, given that she was the heart and soul of that season and one of the few emotional anchors that it had.
Disjointed is a chance to see Bates get more into comedy, which she’s done in the past with The Office and even an amusing guest appearance on Two and a Half Men playing a version of Charlie Sheen’s character Charlie Harper after he departed. We don’t blame her for wanting a stable gig like this, especially since it could make more consistent use of her talents and she knows the role that she is diving into.
As for her future on the American Horror Story franchise, this is one of those situations where it makes since to utter the old “never say never” phrase. Remember that Taissa Farmiga left the show for a few seasons before returning on American Horror Story: Roanoke, and we do think that the door is also still open for a Lady Gaga appearance even in spite of her sitting Cult out because of her tour and other projects. This is the beauty of this franchise — with it being an anthology, actors can come and go as they please. We personally consider Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson to really be two of the only main actors of the franchise, with Denis O’Hare not too far down the ladder after them. (O’Hare probably does get to play the strangest and most exciting range of characters year after year.)
American Horror Story: Cult will premiere this September, and while there are starting to be a wide array of interesting teasers out there about the show (see one of the latest ones here), there is something still a mystery about it in terms of its plot and its characters. We presume that more will be revealed there in the coming days.
Are you going to miss Kathy Bates on American Horror Story: Cult, and what do you think that she could have brought to the role? Be sure to share now in the comments! (Photo: FX.)