We learnt earlier this month that Emma Roberts and Lena Dunham would be among American Horror Story‘s new cast members, but it wasn’t clear who they’d be playing. Now, thanks to a press screening followed by a Q&A with Ryan Murphy, we know a little more, Deadline reports.
Ryan revealed that Lena will play Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist who shot and wounded Andy Warhol in 1968. She published a documented called the “Scum Manifesto,” which called for “complete automation and eliminate the male sex.” This character will appear in episode 7 of American Horror Story: Cult, “Valerie Solanas Died for Your Sins: Scumbag.”
“It’s about female rage and that’s in the country now,” Ryan said. “Solanas wrote the Scum Manifesto. She told all women to kill men, and it was their only way to rise to power.”
Emma Roberts, on the other hand, will be playing a purely fictional character, TV Line reports. Serina Belinda is a news anchor who snags a promotion “simply because she’s much more superficial and willing to do what it takes to survive,” putting her above Adina Porter’s character.
The season will centre on six real-life cult leaders played by Evan Peters and their followers. “We really examine how those people rise to power,” Ryan said. “They really are idiots.”
