Ryan Murphy Shares First Look At Cast Of American Horror Story: 1984
Get that hair teased, dust off your short shorts, and dig those leg warmers out of storage — Ryan Murphy and team are getting totally tubular with American Horror Story: 1984.
While we've known for some time now that Murphy was taking his long-running horror anthology series to the tackiest of decades for its ninth season — and prepping to go full-on period-specific, slasher-flick-style to boot — we've finally gotten our first look at just how '80s this '80s-tinged season will be. To celebrate the first day of shooting on American Horror Story's ninth season, Murphy took to Instagram today to share a killer teaser video of his cast in full '80s garb — and we gotta say, they look to be having an absolute blast modeling their gaudy period looks. Murphy pushes the kitsch over the top by backing the video with Dan Hartmann's oh-so-'80s staple "I Can Dream About You," which, for the record, was also prominently featured in Walter Hill's 1984 actioner Streets of Fire.
We'll just have to wait and see if that track is meant to indicate this season of AHS has a Streets of Fire tie-in, though we can't help but think that black leather jacket actor Zach Villa wears might be a callback to William Dafoe's famed greaser look. What we do know about season nine is that AHS alum (and all-around badass) Sarah Paulson will not feature prominently this time around.
As disappointing as that news is, you'll still notice a few familiar faces amongst that cast — including Emma Roberts (herself no stranger to slasher fare after a memorable run on Scream Queens) and Glee alum Matthew Morrison (though we can assure you you've never quite seen Morrison like this). Joining Roberts, Morrison, and Villa in Murphy's first look teaser are Cody Fern (whom you'll remember as Michael Langdon from American Horror Story: Apocalypse) and Billie Lourd (the gal who played Winter Anderson on American Horror Story: Cult and Mallory on Apocalypse). Slightly less familiar mugs seen in the announcement video are those of Gus Kenworthy, Angelica Ross, and DeRon Horton in varying degrees of '80s-ness — not to mention a creepy knife-wielding weirdo that looks to be the great John Carroll Lynch.
As for what AHS: 1984 has in store for its cast, Murphy has been as tight-lipped on that front as any of the show's previous seasons. However, we can glean from the video a few things: Lynch's character appears to be the slasher in question, there's likely to be a summer camp-type setting at some point, and AHS: 1984 will have a very, very '80s feel to it.
Murphy's obvious affection for genre fare of all shapes and sizes has been well on display in the eight seasons preceding 1984, as episodes have covered (to varying degrees of effect) everything from menacing serial killers to creepy psych wards, crazy carnies, a powerful coven of witches, and pretty much every other horror trope you can conjure. It should come as no surprise that he finally decided to dip a toe into the fruitful realm of '80s slasher flicks. Here's hoping he has as much fun with all those genre tropes as he has in seasons past.
American Horror Story: 1984 has just begun production, and the hotly anticipated season is set to premiere September 18 on FX.