You know what’s really scary about working on American Horror Story?
Driving yourself back to your hotel in the middle of the night.
That’s according to six-time star of the series Jessica Lange, who called out the FX production for being, in the past, “too fucking cheap” to provide actors with rides when filming the Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk-created hit franchise.
“We had to drive ourselves — and that’s still a bone of contention,” said the 77-year-old Lange (below) during a PaleyFest 2026 panel on Thursday night in New York City, to roaring laughter, when discussing their time filming together in New Orleans for the third installment in the franchise, Coven. “We would drive ourselves home at like 4 or 5 in the morning, park on some street in the French Quarter, and find our way home — because they were too fucking cheap!”
Co-star Sarah Paulson, sitting beside Lange on the panel, said “oh yeah!” when Lange said “we had to drive ourselves,” and then laughed and covered her face when Lange said the production was cheap.
Giving lead and supporting actors a ride to and from the set is a pretty common amenity on TV and film productions; it’s unclear whether that policy continued into subsequent seasons, however, the stars have continued to come back. FX had no comment on the snark.
The currently airing 13th season of AHS has reunited iconic stars of the franchise for a buzzy crossover installment. Lange, who was a series regular for the first four seasons, last appeared on the show in a guest role on season eight before returning this year.
Joining Lange and Paulson on the panel were Coven and season 13 co-stars Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe and Leslie Grossman, along with co-executive producer Lou Eyrich, for a chat moderated by The Hollywood Reporter about the show’s legacy and currently airing all-star season.
For six more revelations from the panel — including Lange’s one condition to return to the show (which didn’t have anything to do with transit) and the reason she won’t watch the show — check out our recap of the panel.