There will be a little more American Horror Story: Coven info later today, but for now, there’s this: It looks like Kathy Bates will be playing actual historical serial killer Marie Delphine LaLaurie, a.k.a. Madame LaLaurie, according to Zap2It. LaLaurie and her third husband tortured and killed several of their slaves in New Orleans in the 1830s, and were discovered only when firefighters broke down a door and discovered their gruesome murder chamber. Gaaah! Angela Bassett will reportedly play Marie Laveau, the “Voodoo queen of New Orleans” who would have been a contemporary of LaLaurie’s. It’s not clear yet if the whole season will be set in the 1830s or if there’ll be flashbacks or hauntings or reincarnations or what, but yeeesh. Time to start sleeping with all the lights on again.

UPDATE: Another revelation from the show’s TCA panel: Jessica Lange will be playing a witch, and Sarah Paulson will play her daughter. Series boss Ryan Murphy wasn’t present at the session, which made Paulson loathe to reveal the tidbit even after executive producer Tim Minnear gave her the go-ahead. “I can? Really? A little bit? The one fundamental thing?” she asked. “I play Jessica’s daughter this year. There you go. Isn’t that a nugget? That’s a nugget, boy, chew on that for awhile. That’s tasty.”

Sources

Zap2it Kathy Bates Will Play an 1830s Killer on AHS