American Horror Story: Billy Eichner Not Returning for Season 9

American Horror Story will return in September for its ninth season, entitled 1984, but when it does it will be without a face fans have gotten used to seeing over the past two seasons. After two consecutive seasons on the popular FX horror anthology series, Billy Eichner will not be returning for season nine.

Eichner dropped the news late in May when a fan praised his appearance in season seven, Cult. The actor thanked the fan, then revealed that he wouldn’t be appearing in 1984.

“Thank you!” Eichner wrote. “I can’t do AHS this year but boy oh boy I had a blast and I love all those crazy kids a lot.”

Eichner is the second previous American Horror Story actor to reveal that they will not be part of 1984. During an interview at WonderCon earlier this year, Evan Peters revealed that he would not be a part of the season, telling the reporter that he planned to sit a season out. It was a reveal that wasn’t entirely unexpected. Peters had previously told GQ that taking on the difficult and frequently sinister roles he plays on AHS took an emotional toll and sometimes broke into moments of his real life.

“It’s just exhausting,” Peters said in that interview. “It’s really mentally draining, and you don’t want to go to those places ever in your life. And so you have to go there for the scenes, and it ends up integrating it somehow into your life. You’re in traffic and you find yourself screaming and you’re like, ‘What the hell? This isn’t who I am.’”

As for Eichner, his absence from 1984 sounds a bit more like it is schedule-based. Eichner first joined American Horror Story as Harrison Wilton in Cult, explaining in 2017 that he didn’t audition for his role, but that series creator Ryan Murphy had simply offered him the part.

“I did not audition,” Eichner told Entertainment Weekly. “Ryan offered me the part. I met him a few years ago at one of those pre-Emmy parties.”

In last season’s Apocalypse, Eichner joined Peters and Sarah Paulson in playing multiple roles. Specifically, Eichner played Brock, boyfriend of Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt (Leslie Grossman) as well as scientist and Cooperative member Mutt Nutter who sold his soul to Satan and helped bring about the end of the world.

While Eichner may be sitting 1984 out, we do know that one American Horror Story regular will be returning for the ’80s horror-themed season. Emma Roberts will return for 1984, starring opposite newcomer and Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy in the new season.

American Horror Story: 1984 will premiere on Wednesday, September 18 at 10 p.m. ET on FX.