Jessica Lange Leaving ‘American Horror Story’ After Next Season
Jessica Lange will leave American Horror Story after one more season, the veteran actress divulged recently. The lead in the hit FX show will be one of just a few more roles she’ll take before exiting the profession she’s worked in for four decades.
“I am coming to the end of acting,” Lange, 64, told the Los Angeles Times. “I have a list: another stage production, maybe one or two more movies, one more season of American Horror Story. . . and then that is it for me. Because I think that’s enough. I want to go out with a bang. . . or should I say, a scare?”
See Jessica Lange on the Cover of ‘Rolling Stone’ in 1983
Lange’s roles on American Horror Story have been a late boon for the actress, revitalizing a career already dotted with big roles in movies like the Patsy Cline biopic Sweet Dreams, Tootsie and Blue Sky. (She picked up Oscars for last two in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Leading Role categories, respectively). Her turn as the creepy, meddling neighbor Constance Langdon on the first season of American Horror Story won her an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, and she scored a nomination in the Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie category this year.
“It reenergized me; it reenergized my career,” Lange added. “There’s no shame in recognizing that. It’s exposed me to a whole new generation, which is a little strange. I’m not used to young people thinking I’m cool.”
Lange also opened up about how her role in the HBO movie Grey Gardens helped her find “the thrill of acting” again, inspiring her to go out on a limb and try a frightening job when American Horror Story co-creator Ryan Murphy came calling. “The power of seduction got me here,” she said. “He just charmed me. I don’t watch TV – I had never seen Glee or Nip/Tuck. I knew of him by reputation. And the truth of the matter is, I just thought, ‘Wow, nobody has done that song and dance for me in a long time.’ I liked being wanted.”
For now, Lange is back on the small screen scaring the daylights out of viewers as the powerful witch Fiona Goode in American Horror Story: Coven, the show’s latest installment. The season premiered earlier this month.