American Horror Story Star Jessica Lange Opens Up About Wild Margaret Thatcher Scene

With many viewers still reeling from the shock of seeing Jessica Lange as Margaret Thatcher in a recent episode of American Horror Story, the two-time Oscar winner is opening up about how the unexpected scene came to be.

Jessica recently made a return to American Horror Story for its current 13th season, which serves as a crossover between previous iterations of the show.

Over the course of the new episodes, the screen icon has been seen reprising her past characters from Murder House, Asylum, Coven and Freak Show – and in one instalment that dropped last week, she made a brief appearance as a fifth character, Margaret Thatcher.

She played the former Tory leader in a sequence that saw different historical figures being condemned to hell, donning heavy prosthetics to appear more reminiscent of the late PM.

“That was my idea,” Jessica told The Hollywood Reporter, explaining: “I figured if you’re throwing 13 women who have been guilty of horrendous things, that you couldn’t do that without Margaret Thatcher.”

“Don’t get her started!” co-star Sarah Paulson then interjected.

In the much-discussed AHS scene, Jessica’s Thatcher is seen being branded a “school milk-snatcher”, “common enemy to the common people” and “union-busting bitch” whose “callous disregard sent Irish hunger-strikers to their death”.

After refusing to apologise for her past deeds, the former UK leader is then depicted as being pushed to an eternity in hell, alongside other historical figures such as Brigitte Bardot, Jezebel and Eva Braun, as well as other characters from the American Horror Story universe like Tuberculous Karen and Hypodermic Sally (both of whom were played by Sarah Paulson).

The final five episodes of American Horror Story: 13 will drop on Disney+ in the UK on Thursday 15, Thursday 22 and Thursday 29 October.

Jessica said in her Hollywood Reporter interview that creator Ryan Murphy had previously told her that “this was the last season”, although she’s since come to “understand that perhaps, it’s not”.

He recently told The Hollywood Reporter: “I really want this show to go international. I’m interested in: ‘what is an international version of Horror Story?’. That’s something I’m writing right now, maybe, but I don’t know – I just like branching out.”