Why Emma Roberts Didn’t Return For AHS: Hotel (Despite Being Announced)

Back in 2015, Emma Roberts didn’t return for American Horror Story: Hotel despite being announced as part of the cast. Roberts had previously played key roles in Coven and Freak Show, so naturally, audiences were expecting to see her join Hotel‘s ensemble. There were, however, several reasons why this didn’t pan out as expected.

American Horror Story head writer Ryan Murphy revealed in June 2015 (via Zap2It) that Emma Roberts had agreed to join stars such as Lady Gaga and Kathy Bates at the tail end of the FX franchise’s 5th installment, Hotel. He commented: “She comes, and she has a great thing with Evan Peters at the end.” Of course, this held the implication that Roberts was to play a character opposite Evan Peters’ spectral serial killer Mr. March. Perhaps the two actors were destined for their third consecutive love story on the show following their characters’ (troubled) romantic affairs in both Coven and Freak Show.

The main reason why AHS alum Emma Roberts ultimately didn’t appear in Hotel is pretty simple. Roberts eventually revealed (via Yahoo) in December 2015 that scheduling issues caused her absence: “We tried to make it work.” After playing Chanel Oberlin in all 13 episodes of Ryan Murphy’s horror-comedy Scream Queens, Roberts immediately started work on James Cox’s Billionaire Boys Club movie in New Orleans. During this time, Hotel was wrapping up its 5-month shoot in Los Angeles, thus making it impossible for Roberts to film both projects at the same time. In the same interview with Yahoo, she revealed that she hoped to return to star opposite Lady Gaga in American Horror Story season 6 (Roanoke), though this didn’t end up happening either.

Of course, the question of who Emma Roberts was going to play in American Horror Story: Hotel still remains, and it wasn’t until 2018 that Roberts opened up more about the subject. While discussing American Horror Story: Apocalypse, the actress revealed (via Variety) that Ryan Murphy had, in fact, intended to revive her Coven character Madison Montgomery for Hotel. Roberts was quick to express her relief that this didn’t happen, however, stating that she was glad that they held out until Apocalypse to bring back the character: “I’m happy we waited, and I’m happy it happened at all because I remember after Coven I really missed Madison.” Perhaps the short-lived return of fellow Coven witch, Gabourey Sidibe’s Queenie, was incorporated into Hotel to fill the void left by Madison. This speculation falls in line with Murphy’s comments regarding Roberts reuniting with Peters, considering Queenie heavily interacted with Mr. March in Hotel.

Though Emma Roberts didn’t return for American Horror Story: Hotel, the actress has since returned for three subsequent seasons. She played vapid reporter Serena Belinda in Cult, returned as Madison Montgomery in Apocalypse, and led the cast of 1984 in the role of final girl Brooke Thompson. Whether or not Roberts will return for American Horror Storyseason 11 is yet to be seen. Still, she nevertheless remains a valued member of the AHS family, despite her Hotel absence.

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