Slowly, over the last few months, it was revealed the show was going to be set against the backdrop of a mental instituion housing the criminally insane – run by Jessica Lange (a departure from her turn as Constance in season one).
In an interview with Vulture, Murphy – who is a showrunner on AHS – revealed the upcoming story arc will be set in the ’60s and dished a bit more dirt on what is to come.
“Its set in an institution for the criminally insane that Jessica Langes character runs, which is a really, really, really fun thing to do because you can write all these people locked up in it. And I guess if the first season was about infidelity, the second season is about sanity. What makes someone sane or insane? Sometimes the people you think are insane are actually the most sane of all. Its fun to write about people who society throws away.
I havent said this publicly, but the new season is set in the sixties and Chloë Sevigny, for example, plays a character who was put in an asylum because she was a woman who likes sex, so her husband sends her away. At the time, you were able to put people away for that. Another character is institutionalized for being a lesbian. To me, theres nothing more scary than somebody coming to you and saying theyre going to take you away and put you in a mad house and you have no legal rights and there you shall stay till the end of your days. That is a real horror. Everybody has felt people thinking, “Youre fucking crazy.” Even somebody saying that to you is scary.”
That’s a terrific decade to explore, thematically. Another show fave of mine, Mad Men, is currently killing it with its take on the ’60s. I’ll be curious to see Murphy’s approach to that era.
Lange, James Cromwell, Adam Levine, Zachary Quinto, Sevigny, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Lizzie Brochere star in season two. For the full Murphy interview, follow this link.
