Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Misery star Kathy Bates is heading a strong female cast for the third season of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story when it returns in October with a new self-contained story, Coven.

The Oscar-winning actress, whose show Harry’s Law was cancelled last season, will play Louisiana-born socialite and serial killer Marie Delphine LaLaurie, who was a big wheel in New Orleans until a fire broke out in her house in 1834 and people responding to help discovered bound and tortured slaves inside, according to information revealed at the TCA Tour this week.

Angela Basset joins her as Marie Laveau, a Louisiana Creole and Voodoo priestess from the 19th century, with Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson as mother and daughter Fiona and Cordelia (the King Lear reference is intentional, according to executive producer Tim Minear). Other stars this season include  Patti LuPone, Francis Conroy, Gabourney Sidibe, and Lily Rabe.

The new series will have a ‘strong feminist theme’, and ‘a little more welcoming’ fun quotient than Asylum.