FX has all hands at the pump with the fast-approaching premiere of American Horror Story: Hotel, the anticipated fifth season of the seemingly evergreen anthology series. After ensuring that we slept with the lights on only a week ago, the network has turned the attention to the much-hyped introduction of Lady Gaga’s The Countess, the enigmatic owner of the equally enigmatic Hotel Cortez.
Retaining the frantic, wholly unsettling editing that has littered previous teasers for the upcoming season, the clip has the singer-songstress strut down one of the hotel’s dilapidated corridors, replete with a ghostly expression. A vampire in all but name, Gaga’s disturbing character is said to be stricken with an “ancient blood curse” that explains her acquired taste for blood and all things evil.
Ryan Murphy returns as showrunner for American Horror Story: Hotel, and the executive producer has been contemplating the future of the season beyond its return this fall. In fact, last we reported Murphy was weighing up the potential of developing two seasons of the gleefully dark show in 2016, possibly opening up a crooked door for series stalwart Jessica Lange to return in one form or another. Scheduling issues will be the biggest obstacle for both Murphy and Lange to overcome, but there’s no question that the actress whipped up a storm across her diverse roles in the anthology series, so any word of a potential homecoming is distorted, blood-curdling music to our ears.
In term’s of next month’s premiere, Gaga – real name Stefani Germanotta – will be joined by Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Wes Bentley, Matt Bomer, Chloë Sevigny, Denis O’Hare, Cheyenne Jackson, Evan Peters and Finn Wittrock.
American Horror Story: Hotel will introduce fans of the campy horror series to Hotel Cortez when the series returns to FX on October 7.