Ryan Murphy’s upcoming project Scream Queens is coming together, and this morning the soon-to-be comedy and horror series signed on two big names to lead the show. Original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis has been cast in the series along with American Horror Story actress Emma Roberts. The news comes less than two months after Fox ordered Scream Queens to series.
Both Roberts and Curtis should rock out in Scream Queens, as both have pretty terrific backgrounds in horror. Obviously, we should start with Curtis’ pedigree here, as the veteran actress kicked off her horror career with Halloween and later appeared in other horror films like The Fog and Prom Night (not to mention more Halloween franchise movies). Emma Roberts is much newer on the scene, but she also has horror experience, including Scream 4 and the aforementioned American Horror Story.
Fox’s big announcement didn’t include any information on what characters the two women will be playing, other than mentioning they will both be leads. Luckily, we do know a bit more about what Scream Queens will be about. When Scream Queens was picked up to series, we learned that the horror anthology series will be set on a college campus following a set of murders that have put the entire campus on edge. The show is expected to revolve around two female leads (which could very well be Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Roberts) and will feature an expansive ensemble cast, similar to Murphy’s other horror anthology series, American Horror Story.
Obviously, Scream Queens will be a little different than American Horror Story. First, Murphy himself has described the experience as “genre-bending,” as it will mix classic comedy elements with classic horror elements. Additionally, it will likely be a little less edgy, as it is set up at network station Fox instead of cable station FX. It is likely, however, that the success of the already-proven format over at FX has helped Scream Queens to get off the ground. When the show was picked up in October, Fox went ahead and ordered 15 episodes of the horror anthology series, and since the series has been moving forward at a fairly quick pace, it’s likely we’ll continue to hear more from the show in the coming months.
I was initially a little skeptical about another horror anthology series, but with the comedy element and a pretty exciting cast so far, Scream Queens seems to be headed in the right direction. We’ll keep you posted as the show moves forward.
