“I guess it had that cable edge that the networks can’t do because they have to be slaves to a certain demographic and audience. They are paid by the Tide commercial or the Coca-Cola commercial. The episodes, to be harsh, are the fluff in between.”
Tim Whitby/Getty ImagesFX’s American Horror Story may have found the head of its insane asylum.
FlashForward star Joseph Fiennes is in talks to join the second season of the FX anthology series from Glee co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
As first reported by EW, Fiennes would play the head of the East Coast institution for the criminally insane where Jessica Lange’s new character is employed. Fiennes’ character will also be a love interest for Lange’s character, who is charged with running the joint.
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The casting marks the second time Murphy and Fiennes will work together; the actor starred in the AHS co-creator’s 2008 FX drama pilot Pretty/Handsome, in which he played a family man struggling with his gender identity.
Fiennes would join an all-star cast for the rebooted second season. In addition to Season 1 cast members coming back to play different characters Lange, Zachary Quinto, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson and Lily Rabe, the second-season cast includes Chloe Sevigny, The Voice‘s Adam Levine, Oscar nominee James Cromwell and newcomer Lizzie Brochere.
STORY: ‘American Horror Story’s’ Ryan Murphy: New Cast, New House, New Story Set for Season 2
“It’s a completely different world and has nothing to do with Season 1; there’s not a mention of Season 1,” Murphy said recently of the second season, which will also be set in a different time period — the 1960s.
Fiennes is repped by WME and Anonymous Content.
Update 6/15: Fiennes’ deal has closed.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit