John Waters fans are getting their first look at the cult filmmaker in his next big on-screen role, a knife-wielding medical specialist in “American Horror Story: 13.”
For AHS: 13, producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have brought back many of the actors from previous seasons of the series while introducing new ones such as Waters, who announced that he was joining the cast during a spoken-word performance in February.
Waters plays a “medical specialist extraordinaire” named Mr. Phibes in the new season of the horror-drama anthology series, which debuts later this month on FX and Hulu. Filming for the series began in April and wrapped up this summer.
The name of Waters’ character is an apparent homage to horrormeister Vincent Price, who played a “living corpse” named Dr. Phibes in the 1971 horror-comedy film, “The Abominable Dr. Phibes,” and its 1972 sequel, “Dr. Phibes Rises Again.”
Though primarily a writer and filmmaker, Waters, 80, has also portrayed nefarious screen characters over the years, including a “porn monger man” on “Law and Order: Special Victim Unit,” and the Groom Reaper in “Til Death Do Us Part” on Court TV. In the recent “Chucky” TV series, he was Wendell Wilkins, creator of the Good Guy-brand dolls, which made him the “father” of the murderous Chucky doll.
“I’m typecast,” Waters told his audience at Baltimore Soundstage, where he announced that he would join the cast of AHS. “I’m always either the devil or Chucky’s father…I’ve always been trying to steal Vincent Price’s career.”
AHS: 13 has been described as an all-star crossover season in which returning actors reprise previous roles and are joined by new characters. Actors from previous seasons include Jessica Lange; Sarah Paulson; Evan Peters; Emma Roberts; Kathy Bates; Billie Lourd; Angela Bassett; Gabourey Sidibe and Leslie Grossman. Some play multiple characters from past seasons.
New photos from ScreenRant.com and an official trailer released on Sept. 10 by FX and Hulu hint at how the season will unfold.
According to ScreenRant.com, Mr. Phibes works with Jessica Lange’s Constance Langdon character from AHS Season 1, Murder House. As a result, Waters and Lange share screen time.
In the photos and trailer, Mr. Phibes is shown wearing a white shirt, long white lab coat, black gloves and a black necktie, with Waters’ trademark thin mustache. At one point in the trailer, he appears to be stabbing someone. One shot shows his white lab coat splattered with blood.
Thirteen is a recurring number in Season 13. Besides being the number of episodes in the season, it’s the number of stories in the hotel where much of the action takes place.
“Thirteen stands for instability, chaos,” Waters’ character says in the trailer.
As of Friday, there are just 13 days until the series debuts – on Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. EDT on FX and Hulu. The final episode will air on Oct. 29.
Here’s the trailer that was released on Sept. 10:
