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Glee co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s horror anthology show American Horror Story has won audiences over with the sheer force of its weirdness, with three seasons complete already and a fourth season gearing up for a fall premiere this year. After covering the traditional horror movie tropes of a haunted house, a mental asylum and a coven of witches, American Horror Story will next move on to even more sensitive territory in a new season titled American Horror Story: Freak Show.
The cast of the next season has now been assembled, with quite a few actors returning from past seasons. Sarah Paulson will play conjoined twins Bette and Dot, and Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Frances Conroy, Gabourey Sidibe, Emma Roberts and Evan Peters are also all back for another round. They will be joined by cast newcomers Michael Chiklis, Wes Bentley, John Carroll Lynch, Finn Wittrock, and Patti LaBelle.
American Horror Story: Freak Show is set in Juniper, FL, in one of the very last freak shows of the time, though since the only teaser for the show so far turned out to be a fake (albeit a very well-made one) we still don’t have much of an idea about what the new season’s plot(s) will be. There isn’t too much longer to wait before fans find out, however, as FX announced this morning that American Horror Story: Freak Show will premiere on Wednesday, October 8th at 10pm ET/PT.
One last piece of casting news was also revealed this week as Murphy revealed on Twitter that Guinness World Record holder Jyoti Amge, the world’s smallest woman at just slightly over two feet tall, will star in the show in her first TV acting role.
American Horror Story Freak Show Jyoti Amge American Horror Story: Freak Show Casts Worlds Smallest Woman
20 year-old Amge hails from Nagpur, India, and was the subject of the 2009 documentary Body Shock: Two Foot High Teen before officially being declared the world’s smallest woman by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2011. Her restricted height is due to a genetic disorder called achondroplasia, and she is not expected to grow any taller. Amge has previously said that she would love to break into Bollywood movies, but due to a lack of offers she turned to Hollywood instead in order to fulfill her dream of becoming an actress.
Unlike witches or ghosts, freak shows are a comparatively rare subject for horror movies, with the most famous example being Tod Browning’s 1932 cautionary tale Freaks. It will certainly be interesting to see how the various actors attached to the show will be transformed for their roles in the makeup department.
American Horror Story: Freak Show premieres on Wednesday, October 8th at 10pm ET/PT on FX.