American Horror Story co-creator Ryan Murphy hinted that Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett could be returning for the show’s fourth season.
Bates currently stars as Madame Delphine LaLaurie, a Louisiana socialite known for torturing and killing slaves. Bassett guest stars as Marie Laveau, also known as the “Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.”
Murphy told Entertainment Weekly that he has approached the Golden Globe winners about returning next season , and they both want to do it.
“That’s very exciting when you can work with A.) actresses you’ve always idolized and B.) those two are loving this season. They love what they get to do,” Murphy said. “Kathy Bates sent the writers a basket of plush toys all in the shapes of disemboweled organs . It doesn’t get better than when an Oscar winner sends you a grab bag of stuffed pancreas to say ‘Thank you and job well done.’”
American Horror Story is an anthology series, meaning it features a different story and set of characters each season. The current installment, American Horror Story: Coven , is set in New Orleans and features a school for witches. The first and second installments were set in Los Angeles and Massachusetts, respectively.
FX renewed American Horror Story for a fourth season Wednesday.
“Put simply, Ryan Murphy is a master television producer,” FX Networks CEO John Landgraf said in a statement. “Time and time again, he reinvents the form.” Landgraf also called Coven the “best [season] yet.”
Wednesday’s episode, “Burn, Witch. Burn!” was the night’s top cable program, drawing 3.799 million viewers with a 2.2 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic. The current season has been the best-performing of the series so far, averaging 4.268 million viewers. The season premiere, “B*tchcraft,” was the most-watched of the series, drawing 5.538 million viewers with a 3.0 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic.
Should Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett return, they will reunite with series star Jessica Lange, who has said the fourth season will be her last.
“I am coming to the end of acting. I have a list: another stage production, maybe one or two more movies, one more season of American Horror Story , and then that is it for me,” the multi-award winning actress told the Los Angeles Times . “Because I think that’s enough. I want to go out with a bang, or should I say, a scare?”
American Horror Story: Coven airs Wednesday at 10 pm on FX. Next week’s episode, “The Axeman Cometh,” will introduce “The Axeman of New Orleans,” a serial killer active in New Orleans and surrounding communities from May 1918 to October 1919.