Sarah Paulson Teases Possible Appearance in American Horror Story: 1984

Fans of American Horror Story were crushed to learn earlier this year that Sarah Paulson, who has been a major part of nearly every season of the FX horror anthology series thus far, would not be appearing in the upcoming ’80s-themed installment 1984. Now, though, fans may want to tentatively get excited as Paulson is teasing a possible “pop-up” appearance.

Speaking with ET at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, Paulson hinted that she could still appear in 1984, noting that it’s bittersweet for her to not be more actively involved in the season.

“I may pop up,” Paulson said.

“It’s a little bittersweet because I have a lot of friends who are still on the show,” she explained. “So I’m getting updates about how it’s all going and what they’re doing, and I’m like, ‘Wait, what? You worked until two? Oh, I remember working until two on that show.’ And then I’m also very glad that I can wake up at a decent hour because I’m not cross-eyed from having worked insane nights.”

Paulson went on to explain that despite a more regular schedule being an advantage of not being involved in 1984, she’s really excited for the season.

“But it’ll be hard,” Paulson said. “I’ll be watching and cheering everybody on. I’m really excited for this season. I think it’s a really cool idea for the show this year. And you never know, I may pop up. You never know. No promises though.”

Currently, not a lot is known about American Horror Story: 1984 beyond the setting at a summer camp—Camp Redwood—that was once the site of a massacre and the slasher-horror theme, one driven home by the official season trailer as well as numerous posters and teasers all featuring campers menaced by the maniacal killer, Mr. Jingles. Outside of that, the main cast of 1984 is also known and while it does feature a few familiar faces such as Emma Roberts and Cody Fern, there are also many new faces as well. The change-up in the cast roster is something that FX Networks and FX Productions CEO John Landgraf explained earlier this year came from a need to create a “clean slate” after last season, Apocalypse.

“Remember, he did something really interesting, which is he decided to weave multiple different cycles through the eight seasons, and so it was the biggest cast ever,” Landgraf said. “You had actors that were playing 2-3 different characters. You had to bring back all the cast from prior seasons. It was a monster in terms of the size of the cast, cost of that cast. You can’t do that all the time.”

He went on to explain that that meant in Season 9, series co-creator Ryan Murphy had to refresh.

“Part of what he needed to do, which is what he did, was clean the slate, start over.”

1984 will feature appearances from franchise alums Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman, Cody Fern, and John Carroll Lynch. New cast members include Glee’s Matthew Morrison, Pose’s Angelica Ross, DeRon Horton, and Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy.

American Horror Story: 1984 premieres Wednesday, September 18th, at 10 p.m. on FX.

Are you excited about the possibility that Paulson might appear at some point in American Horror Story: 1984? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @lifeinpolaroid to chat about all things American Horror Story!