'American Horror Story: Hotel' Confirms Jessica Lange Exit

Late this past weekend saw American Horror Story Season 5 booking Matt Bomer and Cheyenne Jackson to for a stay in the Hotel, but questions of the returning major cast remain. Now. series lead Jessica Lange confirms her departure of the series, while fellow veterans Sarah Paulson and Denis O’Hare update on their status.

Speaking to the PaleyFest panel, Lange formally confirmed that Hotel would prove the first American Horror Story iteration without her in a central role, saying “We’ve had a great run. I have absolutely loved doing these four characters, and in all the madness, I loved the writers, actors, Ryan, the whole insanity of it, the stories, shooting here, shooting in New Orleans, everything. To cut to the chase, yes, I’m done.”

Also likely to have difficulty returning to the series is that of Sarah Paulson, given her role in Ryan Murphy‘s other FX project, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson. Speaking to Vulture, Paulson remained optimistic about the possibility of an appearance, if only to keep a certain streak:

My hope is that we can make both shows work out [because] no one has ever survived but Paulson. I can’t ruin that streak now. Am I pretending that I don’t want to be the person that never dies on the show? No, I want the title. I have it now, and I am certainly not ready to relinquish it.

Denis O’Hare too seemed more likely to return:

I don’t have [a] 100 percent definitive yes, but I have gotten some strong hints and had some good early conversations. And I have a pretty good idea of what I would like to do.

FX boss John Landgraf previously described American Horror Story Season 5 as an “unusually large reinvention“ of the series, while X-Men: Apocalypse star Evan Peters’ participation also remains in question. We’ll learn more in the coming weeks, but could Hotel prove the most aberrant year yet for FX’s horror smash?