‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’: Kathy Bates on her own freak show history

While “American Horror Story: Freak Show” will revolve around a 1950s establishment that featured a whole variety of unusual folks, there are still many mysteries out there about everything else pertaining to the series. Another bit of irony here is that most of the cast members are too young to really remember what most of the old-school freak shows were like.

One person who does at least hold some sort of memory of them, though, is Kathy Bates. She was a child in the 1950s when these establishments were coming to an end, but she tells TV Guide that she was always banned from attending them for a very particular reason:

“I remember going to the fair when I was a kid, and I always wanted to go into freak show [but] my parents would never let me … So it was this mysterious place I never saw when I was growing up.”

We’re going to hopefully get a somewhat-realistic look at what these freak shows were like when the show picks up in October, even if we are very aware of the fact that this is a work of horror, and therefore things will be amped up for the purpose of scaring the living daylights out of you. While the intention for Ryan Murphy and company is not to make this program as dark or dramatic as we saw during “Asylum,” it will be a little edgier and less silly than “Coven,” which featured witches burning and also a number of other things that did not make a whole lot of sense.

How excited right now are you for this show to come on the air? Let us know some of your thoughts right now with a comment, and head over here for some further updates pertaining to the show. Also, sign up now to get some further scoop on all we cover via our official newsletter.

Photo: FX