‘American Horror Story’ season 4 will be the last for Jessica Lange
One of the benefits for an actor in doing “American Horror Story” is that unlike many other shows out there, the decision on whether or not to stay for another season is really dependent on you. Therefore, Jessica Lange has the freedom to choose whether or not she will be leaving the show after a given date, and thanks to that, her choice is to make season 4 her very last for the program.
So why depart at this point in the series’ run? Ultimately, it has nothing to do with the quality of the work or the people, but she tells Entertainment Weekly that after so many years of doing the same exact thing, she has a desire to spread her wings a little and see what else is out there:
“It ends up being a lot of time during the year being committed to something. I haven’t done that for a long time. It’s like doing a stage play between the rehearsal and the run. This is a 6-month commitment every year. That will be four years in a row. I want to have more time to myself I guess. Once it’s over and I have a full year ahead of me with nothing to do, who knows? It might not have been the best decision. But I think four years doing something is a sufficient amount of time.”
The great thing about the structure of the anthology series is that her decision to leave right now in no way confirms that she will not be around in the future to do something else. Taissa Farmiga and Denis O’Hare are two of the actors this season who were not a part of “American Horror Story: Asylum,” as it is also possible that someone that is missing “Coven” this year like a Zachary Quinto could be back for a season 4. It would personally be nice to see next year feature a male lead, given that the last time we really had that was back in season 1, unless you consider “Asylum” to be more about Kit and Lana.
Do you think “American Horror Story” will be fine without Lange, especially when you consider that it has the likes of Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates potentially coming back for more? Share below, and click here if you are curious already in finding out some more clues on where the setting could be for the show the rest of the way.
Photo: FX
Sarah Welch Clausen
January 2, 2014 @ 6:21 am
I love and admire Jessica Lange so much and will miss her on the show, but it will survive without her. I look forward to possible surprise appearances by her which is something to keep watching for.