Ryan Murphy Says Evan Peters’ Return to ‘American Horror Story’ Has Been Discussed
The 100th episode of American Horror Story premieres Oct. 23 as the sixth episode of the current season, 1984. Of course, fans are buzzing about the FX show’s big milestone. However, some viewers can’t help but wonder about fan-favorite actors who have been missing throughout season 9 — namely Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters. And although you never who might come back in AHS: 1984, it seems co-creator Ryan Murphy revealed he already discussed Peters’ return to American Horror Story.
Ryan Murphy explains why Evan Peters isn’t in ‘American Horror Story: 1984’
On Oct. 23, Entertainment Weekly published Murphy’s favorite American Horror Story episodes of all time. Within the list, Murphy included AHS: Cult‘s 11th episode, titled “Great Again.”
In the writeup, the showrunner praised the pairing of Peters and Paulson, noting the actors were his “favorite antagonist/protagonist thing we have ever done.” Murphy also added he still talks to Paulson about Peters’ performance in the episode.
That said, Murphy then delved into how Peters’ role in Cult affected the actor. He explained:
Evan is CRIMINALLY underrated in this role. He really suffered while making it, it took him I don’t know…two years to recover? Evan and I and Emma [Roberts] and Sarah and Holland Taylor had Thanksgiving together that year right after filming, and I remember Sarah and I kept feeding Evan food, trying to nourish him and make him feel better. He was still feeling it, the darkness, while we were making Pose season one, it got under his skin in a really hard long way. I loved him in it. He and I talked after it, and we decided maybe it was time to do some comedy.
Ryan Murphy reveals he spoke with Evan Peters about returning to ‘AHS’
As we now know, Peters took the break from American Horror Story for 1984. However, Murphy revealed he recently talked to Peters about his return to the FX series. But, at this point, it seems they’re simply discussing the possibility, as Murphy still hopes Peters will come back sometime in the future and nothing has been confirmed.
“We spoke in the past month about him coming back to the show some year and I hope we will,” Murphy explained in the EW article. “I really admired the dedication and the discipline he delivered.”
Evan Peters’ previous statements about leaving ‘American Horror Story’
Back in July 2018, Peters opened up about playing darker roles during an interview with GQ. And Peters confirmed his struggles with portraying characters in shows like AHS and Pose.
“It’s just exhausting. It’s really mentally draining, and you don’t want to go to those places ever in your life,” Peters said. “And so you have to go there for the scenes, and it ends up integrating it somehow into your life. You’re in traffic and you find yourself screaming and you’re like, ‘What the hell? This isn’t who I am.'”
Then in April 2019, Peters confirmed his absence from AHS: 1984. “I’m going to sit this one out,” the actor revealed at WonderCon, as reported by EW.
Nevertheless, it’s possible Peters will return to American Horror Story sometime after 1984. Clearly, Murphy wants the actor to come back. But, Peters has opened up about the possibility as well.
“Never say never,” Peters told Digital Spy in May 2019. “I just… Yeah, we’ll see what happens.”
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