Ryan Murphy Drops Major American Horror Story: Hotel Bombshells

Ryan Murphy has been fairly tight-lipped regarding the upcoming season of American Horror Story, but the showrunner revealed some exciting new information during an interview with Deadline - including the return of AHS alum Denis O'Hare.

"We're just finalizing Denis O'Hare's deal; he's going to come back," Murphy said, noting the cast is pretty much finalized. O'Hare joins Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Chloe Sevigny, Cheyenne Jackson, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Finn Wittrock, Matt Bomer, Lady Gaga and Max Greenfield in the star-studded cast.

And while Hotel will be the first season without Jessica Lange, Murphy has hopes she will eventually return to the anthology series. "Well, all I can say about that, never say never with Jessica," Murphy said. "I think if I came up with something extraordinary for her, if I could come up with a great character, she's all about that, and she's told me that, if you have something great after I sort of get my rest, then let's keep talking, so I'll do that."

With Lange gone, Hotel will be much more of an ensemble, as well as give Paulson and Peters the opportunities to showcase very different sides of themselves as "absolute evil villains" this season. In another surprising twist, Murphy revealed that while Gaga's role "is bananas good," but it won't include any singing.

4 theories on what American Horror Story: Hotel is about

"The interesting thing is we cast a lot of singers this season, but I like that singers, for the most part, are always great actors because they know how to sell a story through song, through a scene," Murphy said. "I'm excited about that and I think that's why Gaga was excited about it; it's not something that she's ever done before. It's a pure acting part. I think people expect that she's going to be sitting in a bar in a white silk gown sort of singing songs -- she is not. The upcoming season that we're doing is much more horror-based; it's much more dark. It's about a theme and an idea that's very close to my heart that I've always wanted to do that's a little bloodier and grislier I think than anything that we've done before; it's straight horror this year."

Murphy drew inspiration from hotel horror movie tropes and real hotels in downtown Los Angeles in which horrific events occurred for this season, which he believes will prey on viewers' most basic fears.

"Murder House, I thought, was a very primal season because everybody's great fear is about the bogeyman under the bed in their house, and this feels similar to me in that when you check into a hotel, there are certain things beyond your control," Murphy said. "Other people have the keys to your room; they can come in there. You're not exactly safe, it's a very unsettling idea."

Are you excited for American Horror Story: Hotel?