'American Horror Story: 1984': No Sarah Paulson, Jessica Lange, and Evan Peters has fans calling season 9 a disappointment
The upcoming season nine of 'American Horror Story' just released its official trailer but even some spine chilling slasher action in a classic Jason Voorhees style wasn't able to convince most fans to indulge. The reason behind this very evident boycott that fans have expressed on social media happens to be the absence of the golden trio of AHS - Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, and Evan Peters in season 9 titled 'American Horror Story: 1984'. Lange made her exit following the fourth season ('Freak Show') of the anthology horror but had returned for its eighth season ('Apocalypse') to reprise her season 1 ('Murder House') character of Constance Langdon. As for Paulson and Peters, both have been cast as main characters in all eight previous seasons of the show, making fans believe that without them, there is no 'American Horror Story' at all.
With the setting being in the golden era of slasher horrors - the mid-80s - we know where the plot's roots lie. The trailer released also shows a very 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' type setting where a group of friends take a trip to Camp Lakewood and a masked man with a massive knife follows them. We have seen similar slasher themes on the show before, with Peters playing both a villain and a murderer, while Paulson exhibited her skills as the unhinged sidekick at times, and a trapped victim in an asylum at other times. In short, both of them have displayed such expertise in every single character they have taken up each season that it's hard to imagine that this slasher installment won't have them.
Fans have come forward with the same complaints, sharing on Twitter just how impossible the show seems without the golden trio. "Literally one of the best themes for an American horror story season and Ryan Murphy decides not to bring Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, or Jessica Lange. and he thinks we’ll still be watching? #AHS1984" wrote one disappointed fan, as another chimed in saying: "I physically do not know how I’m going to survive a Sarah Paulson-less season of American Horror Story. #AHS."
But while Paulson is not playing a main character, there has been news about her returning for a much smaller role in season 9. Still, it doesn't make the cut for ardent fans whose outrage on social media just keeps increasing, ahead of its October release. "Sarah Paulson carried season 7 of American horror story on her back where is her oscar" one angry fan tweeted, while another one went on the full caps road and stated: "THE FACT THAT SARAH PAULSON WILL NOT BE ON AMERICAN HORROR STORY SEASON 9 MAKES ME MADDDDDD like shes the queen of ahs man WTF @AHSFX." Tweets like "there is no American horror story without Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Jessica Lange" and "If Sarah Paulson isn’t in the new American Horror Story just cancel the show, please. It’s done," have been quite common too!
Fans have also stressed on the significance of Peters and Lange in the show, with hilarious quips like: "Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters were rushed to the ER due to back injury from carrying every season of American Horror Story on their back. They have been released since neither will be in this coming season, making this the worst season yet no matter what!" Another very ardent Lange fan made the unanimous observation that "It can’t be the same without Jessica Lange. She is brilliant and an amazing actress. She left the show with the quality she brought since the beginning of AHS. (Not the same but still good)."
But at the same time, there's no denying the fact that showrunner Murphy might have some entertaining and creepy horror up his sleeve in the upcoming trio-less season of the show. As noted by one fan, guess we all can agree that "American Horror Story without Paulson sounds terrible, but I’ll be watching anyway."
'American Horror Story: 1984' premieres on September 18th on FX.
