‘American Horror Story: Asylum': Ryan Murphy Talks Finale and Season 3
The insanity of Briarcliff finally came to a close last night as 'American Horror Story: Aslyum' finished out its second season with the unique, if fitting retrospective "Madness Ends." Yet as with any good finale, the story doesn't quite end there. Series creator Ryan Murphy opened up about what he had originally intended as the ultimate finale for 'American Horror Story: Asylum', as well as more of what to expect from the coming third season! Get the latest 'American Horror Story' Scoop inside!
It may not have wrapped everything up in a perfect pink bow, but the madness of "American Horror Story: Asylum was finally lain to rest with last night's season finale episode. Given all the madcap insanity and structure of the season however, it isn't surprising to learn that series creator and show-runner Ryan Murphy had a number of ideas for how best to end the season. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Murphy revealed that the Barbara Walters-style interview of Lana Winters originally only took up a third of the episode, with Sister Jude's liberation to come later.
The original finale was gonna be Sarah Paulson now free, a Jacqueline Susann/Truman Capote type, gets a kick in her conscience from Kit and goes back in and shuts that down. And we were gonna have the whole last hour be a documentary of her doing that.
But I think when we were working on that I thought “I don’t want to see feces smeared people for an hour. It’s so grim.” So we abandoned that around episode 10. We thought let’s give Jude a happy ending. Let’s make that one act. But let’s really make the last act Paulson vs. Bloody Face.
Murphy also revealed that the idea for Kit (Evan Peters) to be the one to ultimately save Jessica Lange's Sister Jude came from FX president John Landgraf, who even inspired some of Kit's dialogue in Tim Minear's script. Murphy hoped to give all three main characters an ultimately happy resolution, in particular imagining for Kit that the aliens cured him and provided some "happy resolve," a la Richard Dreyfus in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.'
But what about the show's third season, recently confirmed to include season 1 star Taissa Farmiga along with returning players Jessica Lange, Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson? Murphy wouldn't elaborate much beyond what we already know, but once again stressed that he wanted a "funnier, romantic" vibe. Murphy teased that one character would be a "great, true-life character that’s the most horrible woman ever created," but stopped short of fully confirming it would be Jessica Lange's character.
The show's third season will indeed carry on the format of adding a subtitle after 'American Horror Story,' while Murphy says "Madness Ends" director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will sign on as a producer/director, for a season to be shot on location in 3 different cities, a story "more ambitious than what we’ve ever done."
Well, what say you? Were you satisfied by the finale of 'American Horror Story: Asylum?' Where do you think the coming third season will take us? Tell us your thoughts on "Madness Ends," and give us your 'American Horror Story' predictions in the comments!