American Horror Story at Paleyfest: Michael Chiklis Joins Season 4

 

The Paleyfest panel for American Horror Story closed off the television celebration and the whole thing was a hilarious, weird, fun, and at times uncomfortable, but delightful mess. Let’s face it, whenever you open the floor up for fan questions it’s gonna get creepy and uncomfortable real fast. And while the panel focuses on the discussion of the past season of the show, the predominant message conveyed was that this cast is a lot of fun and seem to have a lot of fun with each other, also the show has some batshit fans; from Angela Basset walking onto the stage with Kathy Bates’ severed head on a platter, to Sarah Paulson making her way to her seat nursing a cocktail (later explaining that she is on a “vodka cleanse”) to Gabourey Sidibe’s hilarious recounting of a not-so-great encounter with fans in New Orleans, to a fan propositioning poor Sarah Paulson and an array of very enthusiastic young fans rushing the stage. The panel was full of these great little moments, plus potentially troubling fan questions/requests that were handled with great aplomb by the cast.

 Of course, it wasn’t all just fun anecdotes and awkward fan moments, moderator Tim Stack directed some of the conversation to Coven naming it the “best season” and calling attention to the sublime cast and flawless visual style. While we can't agree that Coven is the best season qualitatively speaking, there is no denying that it was insanely fun at times and sported one of the most brilliantly talented casts in television. Most importantly, it wouldn’t have been an American Horror Story discussion without tidbits for the upcoming season. Creator Ryan Murphy went on to clarify that the next season, subtitled "Freakshow" is “Not a circus and it’s not a carnival, it is a freak show.” Hmm, aren’t they all freak shows, really?  While that statement did little to clarify potential themes and story lines for the fourth season he did go on to confirm that it will be set in Jupiter, Florida in the 1950s and that everyone on the stage will have a role in the show, in some capacity. Meaning, Angela Basset, Kathy Bates, Dennis O'hare, Frances Conroy, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, and Jamie Brewer,  will all be joining  previously announced Jessica Lange. The biggest revelation, however, was that The Shield’s Michael Chiklis will be joining the cast and will play Evan Peters’ father and Kathy Bates’ ex-husband. Chiklis has been out of the television loop for a while now and this will definitely be a fun and interesting return for the actor. Cannot wait.

Are you looking forward to the Freakshow?