"American Horror Story: Freak Show" is shaping up to be terrifying and spooky. Season 4 centers around a 1950s circus act, but is far from the kid-friendly show you would take your children to see. Creator Ryan Murphy has teased killer clowns, evil conjoined twins and a ringleader who will stop at nothing to see her freak show become a success.
For weeks FX has been releasing teaser trailers and scary posters but Murphy recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly to dish on the Season 4 plot and give more information about the "Freak Show" characters.
Check out some of the interview highlights below.
Gist of Season 4 "Freak Show":
"It sort of dovetails with a time in our culture where different people of all different kinds of life start to stand up for their civil rights. The performers have to put up with centuries of abuse which is all true and are getting to the point where we're not going to take it anymore... So that's going on as Elsa is trying to keep the sideshow going and it's not working until she stumbles across two girls, conjoined twins played by Sarah Paulson, who may or may not be responsible for heinous activities that have gone on in the town. They suddenly become her new headliners and of course that begins to attract people far and wide to see these incredibly odd and special girls."
Does Elsa (Jessica Lange) play a villain at the freak show:
"The thing about Elsa is she's a very benevolent soul in that her sideshow has been going on since the '30s. What she's done for 20 years is she goes around to hospitals and jails and rescues these 'freak' circus performers who are going to be shipped away to asylums and she signs the waivers and she becomes their guardians. She's trying to do anything to [keep] this freak show going because where are these people going to go. In her way, she relates to them and feels like she's one of them as well."
Who are Ethel (Kathy Bates) and Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters):
"Well Ethel is basically Elsa's right hand woman. She helps run the camp and she's sort of the guardian of the law. She had a real tragedy in that she was a real circus star in the '20s and '30s and then she had her baby and she became a down and out drunk and Elsa saved her from the drunk tank. She's so indebted to Elsa she'll do whatever Elsa says so she's sorta like Elsa's henchwoman. And Jimmy is the big man on campus and is the male leader of the group until Michael Chiklis' character comes, the strongman, and they begin to battle for power under Elsa."
What about Desiree Dupree (Angela Bassett), who is married to Chiklis' character, Dell:
"They're desperate for work and they don't know what else to do with their lives. Angela Bassett plays a three-breasted woman and Michael is a strongman who is also running from the law because it turned out he did a series of disastrous events."
What kind of role does Maggie (Emma Roberts) have:
"She's a fortuneteller with a crystal ball who's a complete con artist. She shows up at the camp to help them and it ends up terribly bad."
More scoop on the Season 4 villain, Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch):
"Twisty the Clown is a murderous clown and he's furious that the freaks have shown up in a town where he the most evil clown of all time has retired and he's out to make their lives a living hell."
And if you're afraid of clowns, you might want to cover your eyes whenever he pops up.
"I'm fascinated by the whole clown phobia thing because I personally don't have it," Murphy said. "But whenever we shoot those scenes half the time a third of the crew has to leave because they're so afraid. There's a real interesting thing that people have with being terrified of clowns. So we decided to go head on at it and we tried to make him the most terrifying clown of all time."
To find out more about the characters head on over to EW.com.
