Ryan Murphy and the Cast of ‘Grotesquerie’ on What to Expect in Season 1, Including ‘Twists Galore’ Each Week

Examining the psychological intricacies of a serial killer on the loose in a small town, FX’s newest horror drama series, Grotesquerie, takes viewers to bone-chilling new depths with exquisite performances from the star-studded cast.

In a recent press conference, Ryan Murphy, series co-creator, executive producer, writer, and director, and the main cast spoke about the impetus behind the project, their time on set, and what to expect this season.

The cast of Grotesquerie includes Niecy Nash-Betts (Claws, Monsters) as Detective Lois Tryon, Courtney B. Vance (American Crime Story) as Marshall Tryon, and Raven Goodwin (Being Mary Jane) as Merritt Tryon. Additionally, Lesley Manville (The Crown) as Nurse Redd, Micaela Diamond (Elsbeth) as Sister Megan Duval, and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Monsters) as Father Charlie Mayhew.

Murphy said he wanted to write something for himself, leading him to create and write all episodes with co-creators Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken. It’s a meditation on what he portrays as the current situation happening in the world and dealing with questions regarding humanity.

“If you look at the canon of my work, I always have an interest in bogeymen,” Murphy said. “I was interested in sort of creating a five-year-long odyssey for Niecy and Courtney and everybody in the cast where we’re following one of the biggest badass villains of all time, everybody is a suspect, and we’re trying to figure out who it is and what they want.”

Fans of American Horror Story know how much Murphy prides himself on keeping information around his projects under lock and key. Still, he said Grotesquerie is a new, unique level for him, going as far as withholding sharing scripts unless for essential people.

“I feel so often in the landscape of television and entertainment, you are told everything about what you’re watching for three or four months, so by the time you’re watching it, you know everything,” Murphy said.

“There are twists galore every week. We didn’t share the scripts, and what was important to me was to let people experience the story as it unfolds. I’ve not done that a lot in my career, but this is something I wanted to do.”

“Most horror pieces, I think, can get very violent and sort of cynical, and I feel like this definitely has raciness and some action, but it’s not cynical. It’s about the search for hope and light in a dark place. That’s what ultimately I found and what I was interested in writing about. It gave me hope,” Murphy continued.

Details surrounding Travis Kelce’s character in the show have been kept under wraps, and as a result, have sparked many fan theories. Kelce didn’t attend the press conference, but that didn’t stop Ryan Murphy from singing his praises.

“He’s just the kindest, sweetest; everything you think about him is true.”

He recalled a conversation with Kelce early in the development process, discussing his interest in dipping his toes in the acting waters.

From the first interaction, Murphy said he felt Kelce’s inviting, down-to-earth personality.

“I always have a motto in my world and in my work that a star is a star is a star,” Murphy said. “It doesn’t matter what field you’re a star in — if you have that charisma, you are going to bring it to whatever you do.”

Because of his tight turnaround time in between off-seasons, Murphy specifically took his character and tailored it for him. Being new to the acting world isn’t something Kelce let get to his head either, bringing his A-game on set daily.

“He worked with an acting coach for several months,” Murphy said.

“He showed up off-book; he knew everybody’s lines. He was so professional and committed. He kept saying to me, ‘I’m real coachable — coach me, coach me.’ So I did, and he ended up being a delight. I would love to continue working with him on this and other things.”

“I directed the first episode he did with Niecy [Nash-Betts], and Niecy and I just instantly loved him and took him by the hand and let him know that he would not, could not fail, and he was amazing,” Murphy continued.

Not new to a Ryan Murphy project or getting her hands a little bloody, Nash-Betts said she’s grateful to have the duality in her art to fit into any genre and is honored to be helping pave the way for black women in a category they aren’t typically revered in.

“I wasn’t welcomed into the drama side for a long time,” Nash-Betts said. “I didn’t know how cathartic it was, how healing it could be sometimes to be able to revisit emotions and be able to share them onscreen. I’m so, so grateful for Ryan [Murphy] because this opportunity, especially in this genre, is not typically led by Black women. I’m very grateful that I can unpack some of my own mayhem and foolishness through this series.”

Nash-Betts and Vance serve as executive producers on the series, giving them a more effortless ability to collaborate, which Vance found solace in.

“This work we do is about people, and I think when we lose sight of that ‘what do you think’ and ‘what do you feel,’ we get in trouble,” Vance said.

“Ryan [Murphy] has the ideas, but he’s smart enough and big enough to know [to ask], ‘What does she think about what I said? Does that work for you? Does it work?’ And if it doesn’t work, he’ll say, ‘Okay, well, let me go back and think about it,’ and I so love that,” Vance stated.

“As soon as Ryan [Murphy] told me you [Vance] were playing Marshall Tryon, I immediately trusted it because I’ve been in the scripts with you before, worked with you before, and understand the work ethic,” Nash-Betts added.

“It also made me look at Ryan and go, ‘You know, that man is good. That’s some good ol’ casting Ryan did there,’ you know? And I love being a part of the creative process.”

Manville is one of the few actresses attached to the series who are hardly involved in the horror genre, but she says that wouldn’t stop her from taking the role.

“I was really flattered and impressed by the way he did tailor it for me to play Nurse Redd,” Manville said. “He actually made it a collaboration where I could say what I thought about Redd and where she might go. She’s such an extraordinary character.”

“I don’t want to get out of bed and play the same character every week, every month, every year. I want to play people that are different from the person I’ve played before and this ticked the box in many, many ways.”

Portraying a journalistic nun who obsesses with everything tied to cults and tracking serial killers, Diamond touched on the wide variety of nuns in film and finding her own footing.

“There’s the Ryan Murphy nun-ography, stories of Magdalene Laundries, and there’s Doubt,” Diamond said.

“I think the challenge of it was figuring out who this one was. I think nuns are really concealed and inaccessible, so your fantasy about them can kind of run wild. They’re also sometimes pure and innocent and end up quite corrupt and hypocritical. I think the horror nun genre kind of cracks open the question of if nuns have trouble being good, what happens to the rest of us?”

Chavez took on double duty, unlike other cast members, filming Monsters and Grotesquerie simultaneously. With back-to-back call times so close together, Chavez said there was no time between filming for him to decompress, but that working with Murphy on two different projects was an honor and privilege to experience.

“It was interesting to be thrown into the depths of what Ryan [Murphy] is capable of coming up with,” Chavez said.

“One of the nicer parts about playing ‘Father Charlie’ is that I could really just follow my impulses. I trusted my instincts, and everyone around me enabled me to make really bold choices. With Lyle, there was intensive, intensive preparation, but this one [Grotesquerie] was a more raw, unbridled impulse.”

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Grotesquerie airs Sundays at 10/9c on FX.

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