This fall, American Horror Story creators Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk, as well as Glee co-creator Ian Brennan, launch a new anthology series, the horror-comedy murder mystery Scream Queens. Though clearly meant to be a funnier and more pop-oriented than the FX terror series, Scream Queens has similarly amassed a varied and exciting ensemble, including original slasher scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, AHS vet Emma Roberts, Keke Palmer, Abigail Breslin (Maggie, Zombieland) and chart toppers like Nick Jonas and Ariana Grande. After a series of teasers, EW has debuted the first photos from the series alongside a talk with Murphy which pegs Scream Queens as a comedic college-set piece in the spirit of classic slashers and more quippy, knowing 90s fare like Heathers.
Until now, Scream Queens has been described as simply a show about a series of murders on a college campus. In the talk, Murphy delves into much greater detail, describing the series as a proper murder mystery whodunit, explaining, Its sort of the idea of what would happen if you put something like Heathers meets Friday the 13th to those genre pictures like Massacre on Sorority Row [note: maybe hes conflating House on Sorority Row and Sorority House Massacre], that early-to-late 80s exploitation horror thing.
Of the plot, Murphy says, It opens in a flashback to 1995 at the sorority where something horrible happens. Its a mystery that goes unsolved. Flash forward 20 years to today, and it looks like someone is out for revenge. Something horrible happened to a pledge and on the anniversary of that crime, someone is out for vengeance.
Clearly, Murphy is influenced by school-set prank-gone-wrong slashers and motives here. If this was an Uproxx piece, Id ask Want to feel old? Your prank-gone-terrible can now take place in 1995 and realistically foster deep-seated hatred and slasher vengeance
Murphy goes on to describe Emma Roberts sorority president, Chanel and Curtis progressive dean, as well as the other performers and their characters. For the full talk, visit EW. Find photos from the series, below.
Photo Credit: Steve Dietl/Fox
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SCREAM QUEENS: Chanels on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. Pictured L-R: Abigail Breslin, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd and guest-star Ariana Grande. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
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SCREAM QUEENS: The Chanels closet on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FO
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SCREAM QUEENS: Chanels on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. Pictured L-R: guest-star Ariana Grande, Emma Roberts, Abigail Breslin and Billie Lourd. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
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SCREAM QUEENS: Kappa House on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
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SCREAM QUEENS: Sorority Pledge Grace (Skyler Samuels) screams for her on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
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SCREAM QUEENS: Emma Roberts as Chanel Oberlin on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
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SCREAM QUEENS: Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin, L) and new Sorority Pledges Grace (Skyler Samuels, C) and Zayday (Keke Palmer, R) are horrified on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
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SCREAM QUEENS: Abigail Breslin as Chanel #5 is horrified on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
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SCREAM QUEENS: Lea Michele stars as new Sorority pledge Hester on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
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SCREAM QUEENS: Horror icon Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Dean Munsch in the new comedy horror anthology, SCREAM QUEENS, premiering Septemeber 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX