American Horror Story has been scaring and startling TV fans ever the show debuted back in 2011, and fans have gotten six seasons of frights in the years since. The anthology series has become known for reusing actors over and over again in different roles, with frequent flyers like Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters returning time and time again. Now, however, showrunner Ryan Murphy has cast a brand new actress for American Horror Story: Lena Dunham. Murphy made the announcement via social media, posting this:
Apparently Ryan Murphy and Lena Dunham have been itching to work together for a while now. As Dunham has been busy with her HBO series Girls and Murphy has been building a TV empire, the two likely never had the time to collaborate... until now. Girls recently aired its final season, leaving Dunham with the time to explore other projects. The time was right, and she will finally get to work with Murphy on a TV show.
While this casting news (as posted on Ryan Murphy's Twitter account) seems to be a dream fulfilled for Lena Dunham and Ryan Murphy, fans may be... well, a bit surprised. Dunham isn't really known for the kind of projects Murphy routinely produces, and the roster for the new season of American Horror Story was already pretty full. The only new news I was expecting to get on the American Horror Story front any time soon was the Season 7 theme, and that has yet to be released.
Lena Dunham joins a cast anchored by Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters, so we'll have at least a couple of very familiar faces in the action in Season 7. Other newcomers include Arrow veteran Colton Haynes, Scream Queens alum Billie Lourd, Popular actress Leslie Grossman, and Billy Eichner of Billy on the Street. We can also expect the return of Twisty the Clown, which is great news for anybody who misses having nightmares about a rubber chicken-swinging maniac. Then, there's what seems to be a demented elephant with a ghoulish grin that will appear in the new season. All things considered, I'd say we're in for a wild ride.
Unfortunately, not too many details are yet available about the plot of Season 7, although we've been able to piece a few elements together. The action will begin on the night of the 2016 presidential election, and something horrible will go down that almost certainly unleashes all manner of horrors on the characters. Given the political slant of the season, I won't be surprised if we get a demented-looking donkey along with the ghoulish elephant.
For more on Season 7, check out our breakdown of what we know so far about what's to come next on American Horror Story. For what you can watch while we wait for the new batch of episodes, take a peek at our summer TV guide.
