Naomi Grossman’s Pepper returns to American Horror Story for the Freak Show

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

If you were a fan of "American Horror Story's" second season, "Asylum", then you're no doubt familiar with Naomi Grossman's fan-favorite character Pepper. Now Ryan Murphy has confirmed what has long been speculated: Pepper will return for the upcoming season of "American Horror Story: Freak Show", where she'll fit right in with conjoined twins (Sarah Paulson), a strongman (Michael Chiklis), the bearded lady (Kathy Bates), and a woman with three boobs (Angela Bassett)!

EW got our first look at Pepper on "AHS: Freak Show", which is set 12 years before "Asylum". Murphy explains Pepper's involvement with this years storyline:

“What Elsa (Jessica Lange) has done for 20 years is she goes around to hospitals and jails and rescues these ‘freak’ circus performers who are going to be shipped away to asylums and she signs the waivers and she becomes their guardians.”

"American Horror Story: Freak Show", according to Murphy, is…

"…sort of like what happened to Pepper before she went to the asylum.”

This is the first time in four years of "American Horror Story" where a character from a previous season has popped up in another, and Murphy says he and the producers did not make the decision lightly.

“We thought about it long and hard and we decided that it was interesting to do.”

I, for one, think it's a pretty cool decision. I'm excited to see Pepper return and am curious as to how things play out for her character.

American Horror Story: Freak Show begins its tale in the quiet, sleepy hamlet of Jupiter, Florida. The year is 1952. A troupe of curiosities has just arrived to town, coinciding with the strange emergence of a dark entity that savagely threatens the lives of townsfolk and freaks alike. This is the story of the performers and their desperate journey of survival amidst the dying world of the American carny experience.

"Freak Show" stars Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Frances Conroy, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, Evan Peters, Michael Chiklis, Wes Bentley, Matt Bomer John Carroll Lynch, Finn Wittrock, Patti LaBelle and Jyoti Amge. The season premiere is on October 8th.