Seth Gabel as Jeffrey Dahmer in 'American Horror Story' season 13. Eric Liebowitz/FX Logo text [This story contains MAJOR spoilers from the sixth episode of American Horror Story,”The Return of Devil’s Night.”]
American Horror Story fans knew something big was coming with the sixth episode of the all-star 13th season. As if it wasn’t enough to see icons from the franchise reprising multiple roles in the first three episodes of the crossover installment of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s hit horror series during week one, the episode title for the third episode of week two carried a huge hint: “The Return of Devil’s Night.”
Related Stories
TV 'American Horror Story: 13' Scores the Show's Best Streaming Premiere Ever
TV 'American Horror Story' Is Back With 13: Here's How All the Seasons Connect (So Far)
“Devil’s Night” was the epic episode of AHS season five, Hotel, that offered up a dinner party with the most notorious real-life serial killers when Evan Peters‘ James Patrick March summoned Aileen Wuornos (played by Lily Rabe), John Wayne Gacy (played by John Carroll Lynch), Richard Ramirez (played by Anthony Ruivivar), The Zodiac Killer (with a covered face) and Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Seth Gabel).
The sixth episode’s return to “Devil’s Night” brought back Richard Ramirez, The Zodiac Killer and Dahmer, as March once again called on his infamous friends for mayhem. This time, his target was the witches from AHS season three, Coven, led by Cordelia Goode, played by Sarah Paulson.
The episode ended in a major cliffhanger, as Cordelia goes down with an axe to her skull thrown by March, and the group of serial killers begins to invade the coven, which also includes the returning witches played by Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe and Billie Lourd. Gabel says the saga continues with an “explosive” seventh episode that picks up where the serial killers left off.
Gabel’s return as Dahmer was a meta experience, since it reunited him with Peters, the actor who went on to play Dahmer (who killed 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991) in the inaugural season of Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster franchise, The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. “I didn’t know how Evan would be approaching this with me coming back with a role he had done before,” Gabel admits The Hollywood Reporter. “But it was clear, right when we got to rehearsal, that he was attached to his March character and just encouraged me to fly, and Jeffrey was mine again and I could do whatever I wanted with it.”
Below, Gabel dives deeper into his dark return as Dahmer, shares the two words Murphy told him that defined his portrayal, and teases what he knows about the tightly kept plot of the rest of AHS: 13, while musing about how Dahmer led him to his serial killer role on The Rookie (which returns in January).
***
The 2015 “Devil’s Night” episode of Hotel is one of the most talked about and revisited episodes of American Horror Story. When you first got that offer to play Dahmer, did you have any hesitations about playing him, and did you know at all how big it would be?
There’s never a hesitation in saying yes to a Ryan Murphy show because you know, at the very least, it’s going to be a blast. My only hesitation was figuring out a way to turn a very real, dark serial killer into something that was satirical and funny. I went into “Devil’s Night” nervous about that, and was just kind of feeling my way through as we were rehearsing with all the other actors. Then Ryan took me aside and said two words, and it unlocked everything for me. He said, “Poor Jeffrey.” In that, I understood that what’s funny about this is that this guy did the most reprehensible things in the world, and he felt like the victim in all of it. I realized that’s what’s funny — he’s so self-indulgent and unaware, so the irony is that with these awful things he’s doing and that are happening, he feels like it’s really inconvenient for him.
At that point, did you know that Ryan Murphy was thinking about doing an entire Monster season around Dahmer?
No, not at all. Once I saw they were doing that, there’s obviously the feeling of, “Oh, did I not do it well enough to get the part” kind of a thing. But it was so clear that I’m right for the satire version of Jeffrey, but not the realistic version where he’s younger, and I thought Evan [Peters] did such a brilliant job with that.
I didn’t know how Evan would be approaching this with me coming back with a role he had done before. But it was clear, right when we got to rehearsal, that he was attached to his March character and just encouraged me to fly, and Jeffrey was mine again and I could do whatever I wanted with it.
It’s very meta. Coming back to AHS and working with Evan Peters, two Dahmers…
Two Dahmers in a Waymo together browsing Grinder on an iPhone. It’s pretty surreal. (Laughs.)
You two never shared Dahmer tips with each other when he was in the role?
No, no. We didn’t. We didn’t share tips. (Laughs.)
You said your version is more of a satire, but did you also do a deep dive into researching him for the Hotel role?
I did do the full deep dive, the full research. I really wanted to understand his psychology and was surprised to find how empathetic I could be with how he took the world’s homophobia and added that to his own repression and kind of turned it into this morbid fantasy that he acted out in reality. The challenge as an actor, which everyone talks about, is that you need to find a way to have some compassion for these evil characters and understand where they’re coming from. That was a very strange, surreal trip to go on where I could find some aspect of myself that could side with him.
When the call came to do it again, I told myself, I did enough the first time, I don’t need to dive into that research again. So I just went on the ride and trusted that once I got in costume and everything that it would all come back. The Midwestern dialect is such a big part of who he is. That was really the first thing I needed to do to get back in, and then it felt like riding a bike.
Evan Peters as Mr. Marchin in AHS: 13. Eric Liebowitz/FX In the last 10 years since that Hotel scene, dinner scenes have become a prestige TV trope but at the time, that was a new experience. What was it like filming that epic dinner scene?
Totally surreal. They did such a great job bringing everyone back to life. All the actors are so fun to play with and so brilliant, and what I love about doing a Ryan Murphy show is that acting is treated as sacred. You really get to spend time rehearsing and figuring out how to make the scene the best it could be.
I just remember in the “Devil’s Night” episode that we had maybe two days of rehearsal. We had plenty of time filming it. Everyone got to really explore their instincts and impulses, and got to play with each other. Everyone’s an incredibly generous actor, so you’re just giving each other as much as you can, and really having fun with the material and really going for it.
So then you get the call to come back. Ryan has described this season as “AHS good v. evil, Avengers-style.” And now, in this episode, we see its serial killers v. the coven, Avengers-style. Is everyone from the table coming back?
Not everyone makes it back. I think not everyone’s schedule worked out. But the mash-up of real-world serial killers v. the witches in Coven is really fun — and really pays off a lot more in the next episode [episode seven].
Were you thrilled when you got the call?
Oh, yeah. Anytime you get to play some kind of a crazy, real-world character and make it a satire and put a spin, you’re thrilled. And obviously being part of the Avengers-season of Horror Story is a dream because you’re like, “Oh, they liked me. They really liked me.” (Laughs.) “So I get to come back. This is great.” I get to play with Sarah and Emma and Gabourey, and everyone.
This week’s episode ends on a huge cliffhanger — Cordelia (Paulson) is seemingly dead, with an axe in her head from March (Peters). Episode seven picks up from there.
Seven gets really explosive.
Is your role two episodes, or do we see you more after episode seven? Are you allowed to say?
I don’t know what I could say. There’s definitely more in seven, but I can’t say more after that.
Is Cordelia actually dead?
Cordelia could be dead. We do see that there are witches who have all kinds of powers, so we’ll have to see who’s good at what.
Why was March able to overpower Supreme witch Cordelia, do we think?
She seems to be not on her A-game. You see her turn and run, and it’s like, why would she turn and run? Of course he’s going to do something to her. I’m surprised she let her guard down like that. But she’s definitely off her A-game. You see for a couple episodes that she’s feeling like something is off, and it’s really disorienting her, so I think we see her make a mistake in that moment and March takes advantage of it.
Why does this group want to go after the coven?
There’s this war for control of Earth; hell is kind of rising and coming into this reality, and March has manipulated all the killers into joining this mission so they can be the ones who are in control and taking over. The witches stand in the way of that, they have to stop them.
Sarah Paulson as Cordelia Goode. Eric Liebowitz/FX How much are you told going into an American Horror Story season; did you find out when you get the scripts?
As I get the script, yes, and I didn’t even get the whole script, just parts of it. You go in and piece things together, which makes it fun because you’re kind of in the mystery along with everyone else. So you just fully commit to what it is you do know, and it creates this really nice mash-up between everyone fully committing to what it is they know versus what they don’t know.
Do you know how the season ends?
I don’t. I don’t know.
But you know how the serial killers v. Coven battle ends.
Most of it, yes.
Can you describe it, in non-spoiler terms?
It’s explosive. It’s messy. And it’s extremely elemental, because all the spells come out, and all the spells are meeting guns, knives, drills, every kind of weapon conceivable. So you’re truly seeing a mash-up of all the elements.
Did Dahmer lead to your role in ABC police procedural The Rookie (where Gabel plays serial killer Liam Glasser)?
I don’t know. I think Dahmer is the first time I found that I could flip a switch in my brain and have fun playing dark, demented stuff. So, yeah, I guess you could say it led to The Rookie in that being able to approach dark material in a comedic way helped me find a way to keep these things light.
I think I keep getting hired for these kind of creepy, dark roles because I can have fun with it. I kind of relish the freedom you feel and not having any rules and being allowed to do whatever you want, and letting whatever weird instincts fly, and they end up using it for the take. I think the freedom I felt from the Horror Story style, I was able to apply to The Rookie, which is a very earnest, beautiful show. But by simply having fun with the killer-type role, it keeps it light — so I think that’s why Glasser keeps eluding them and continuing to be a menacing presence.
You’re back for season nine, right?
Yes.
Can you tease anything about the new Rookie season?
I don’t know yet. I got the call just recently, and I’m really excited to be going back. I think I’m going to get to play there for at least a few episodes. I feel like fans are going to be disappointed if Glasser continues to remain free, but at the same time, I don’t want it to end, so we’ll see what happens.
And will you return for The Watcher season two?
I’m angling for it. We’ll see what happens.
I know Ian Brennan is writing the new season now.
Yeah. I’ve been trying to get calls in there to be like, “Hey, I’ve got ideas!” But I don’t think anyone’s interested! (Laughs.)
***
New episodes of AHS: 13 premiere Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT on FX and 9 pm PT on Hulu, until the finale on Thursday, Oct. 29. Read all of THR’s season coverage here, including an explainer on how all the seasons connect.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe Sign Up
