Ryan Murphy Teases Macaulay Culkin’s ‘Insane’ American Horror Story Role, Says He May Have to Delay Season

Ryan Murphy has quite the role that he created for Macaulay Culkin in the upcoming American Horror Story installment. Murphy spoke with E! News and talked about the new season, which will be Culkin’s first run on the long-running horror anthology series.

“You know, it came about just because it’s how I always do things, [laughs] where I have always loved Macaulay Culkin’s work,” Murphy said. “I loved everything that he’s done, I love the stuff he did in Home Alone, I also loved the sort of the older, more recent stuff that he did. And he hasn’t worked in a while. So, I have this very, very great insane part. And I asked to speak to him on the phone and he said okay.”

Murphy continued, “[When] I cast, I never let people read things, usually. I said, ‘Okay, here’s the pitch.’ And I told him the character and I told him he has crazy, erotic sex with Kathy Bates and does other things. And he paused and he goes, ‘This sounds like the role I was born to play.’ So, he signed up right then and there. I’m excited for him to be in my world because I think…I’m gonna want to do a lot of things with him if he wants to work, because I think he’s fascinating and interesting, and I think he has a soul. There’s both a lightness and a darkness with Macaulay Culkin that I’m attracted to.”

There is some question as to whether we’ll see Culkin any time soon in the role, as Murphy told the Wrap that he may have to replace this year’s installment with another one due to pandemic delays. “A lot of what I was going to shoot was dependent on a very specific moment, it was a weather-dependent show,” he said. “So now I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re going to do. I don’t know what I’m gonna do next with that show. I don’t know if I’ll accelerate another season or wait till next year to shoot this one.”