In last week's episode, Donna explained to Brooke that she had no shot at being the final girl because horror movies always "kill folks off with my complexion first." But the reformed villain has already proven herself to be the exception to this rule, given that she's made it all the way to 1984's last episode, which will find Donna and Brooke trying to get their revenge on Margaret.
While Angelica Ross couldn't reveal whether Donna is going to make it out of the finale alive, when speaking with TV Guide, she did share a few teases for what fans can expect of the finale, her reaction when she learned the final girl's identity, and what it's been like joining the American Horror Story family.
You worked with Ryan Murphy on Pose before, but this was your first season as part of American Horror Story. What has this experience been like for you? Angelica Ross: It's felt like a graduation a little bit. ... There was a lot of hesitation when, you know, we're talking about trans actors and trans people playing trans roles and thinking that, OK, well they can work in this niche telling trans stories or doing these things. And Ryan's illustrating this thing that goes beyond those boundaries, especially when it comes to undeniable talent and fortune like [Pose's] Janet Mock, like myself, like Indya Moore, like Mj [Rodriguez], like Dominique [Jackson], who is going on to American Gods as well. So it's been great to be able to, for me, do what I know I was meant to do.
Your character has gone on such a big journey this season from when we first met her as Nurse Rita through now. What was your favorite part of getting to develop Donna's arc this season? Ross: I think the favorite part for me was the moment that we saw the twist happen with Donna releasing Mr. Jingles. What's funny is that this is the second time that I've been cast in a role where I feel like my objective has been to make the audience want to cheer me on and make them want to see that I deserve to live, both with Candy [on Pose] and with Donna. And so with all things considered -- with me being trans, with [Candy] being HIV positive, with her doing sex work, with [Donna] setting Jingles free, with [Donna] having a serial killer for a father -- with all of these things considered, as an actor, I had to come up with sort of like my overriding objective throughout the season. And so when I saw that twist, it was perfect for me because I'm a humanitarian and I do believe in the good in all people and I tried to help be a part of bringing that out of people. So it gave me the ability to talk about, like, how many bunnies had to die in order to get the formula right for my hand cream. It just really helped in these moments where it was questionable whether or not you wanted this person to survive. And now to be at a place where the fans are like, we want you to be our final girl -- the odds are against me being the black, you know, a black final girl. But in Ryan Murphy's universe, sometimes anything can happen.
Going into this finale, Brooke and Donna want to kill Margaret, the ghosts want to kill everyone attending the festival, and Margaret, Ramirez, and Bruce want to kill all the musicians at the festival. What is it that does make Brooke and Donna different from the others, given that they're all plotting murder? Ross: [Laughs]That's a good question. What I think that makes them different is that they want to stop the violence. Like again, Donna says to Jingles, it's time to stop the violence. And with people like Margaret, who wants to profit off of violence, as long as she's alive, they'll be sort of a legacy of that. Because that's what Margaret has been trying to create, is this legacy. And they want to end it. And I'm all for rooting for the heroes that want to end the violence. And sometimes, look, that means killing bad guys.
