Is Jessica Lange Done With American Horror Story?

Freak Show ended with what seemed like a swan song for the beloved star

By Chris Harnick Jan 22, 2015 3:45 PMTags
Jessica Lange, American Horror StorySam Lothridge/FX

Is this the end of the American Horror Story road for Jessica Lange? It sure seems that way.

The two-time Oscar winner and three-time Emmy winner hasn't been shy when it came to talking about life after American Horror Story with this season, the fourth season, titled American Horror Story: Freak Show, potentially being her last.

Sources told E! News the fifth season of American Horror Story is still in early planning stages and so far it's still unknown whether Lange will be a part of it for another go around. Adding fuel to the uncertainty fire, Ryan Murphy took to Twitter after the finale aired on Wednesday, Jan. 21 with a simple message.

"Thank you Jessica...for everything," he wrote. "Always."

In 2013, Lange told various reporters she was doing season four and that was probably it. But in an interview with E! News in November 2014, Lange said she wasn't so sure after co-creator Murphy made it no secret his wants her back for the fifth season.

 "You know, I told him that we would sit down and have a long conversation when this was over," Lange told us. "In a way this character is so great, I don't know how you top Elsa Mars. I really—in deference to Ryan, who I love dearly and who I respect beyond—I have no idea at this point."

In the American Horror Story: Freak Show finale, Lange's character, Elsa Mars, gets what she always wanted: fame. After leaving her freak show behind in Jupiter, Fla., Lange hits Hollywood and becomes a TV star and accomplished recording artist. All that comes crashing down when her German snuff film is found and brought to the attention of network executives. Seeing her time is up, Elsa Mars decided to do the Halloween show. And when a "freak" performs on Halloween, Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley) comes to take their soul and add it to his merry band of dead freaks, which now includes Twisty (John Carroll Lynch). However, sensing it was her own form of suicide, Edward Mordrake doesn't take Elsa with him. Instead, he sends her to another version of the afterlife, one where Elsa and the rest of her Cabinet of Curiosities dwell and perform to packed shows every night. Elsa is once again the headliner to crowds of adoring fans and amongst her family.

Elsa got what she really wanted: adoration and love. For eternity.

"You know my motto: Always leave them wanting more," Lange's character says in the season finale. Is that Lange's motto as well?

In October, Murphy told press he was "never accepting" that Lange will exit the show. "This is her favorite season without question," he said of Lange. "She said that to me, she has said that publicly, that she feels really reinvigorated in some regards. I really want her to keep her hand in. Does that mean 13 episodes or six or one? What does that mean? She and I will probably have a dinner date over the holidays. We always start with the character and she decides from there. Before I was met with a really quick no and now I'm hearing, ‘Let's keep talking.' So that's a promising sign...I think if I presented her with the right character, it could work. That's my hope. I'm sending bribes every day!"

Will those bribes work? Time will tell.