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[Thisstorycontainsmajorspoilersfrom[ThisstorycontainsMAJORspoilersfrombeauty Season 1 finale “Beautiful Betrayal.”]
Evan Peters finally gets to play a nice regular guy on The Ryan Murphy Show. But that didn’t give him a happy ending — not with that cliffhanger on Wednesday night.
Longtime collaborator Murphy appeared in nine seasons American Horror Story He will return in the thirteenth installment. Murphy often takes on darker roles, most recently as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in 2022. A monsterwhich earned him an Emmy nomination.
In foreign currencies beautyPeters plays Cooper Madsen, an FBI agent investigating model deaths linked to a mysterious drug that can be injected – or transmitted via sex – and which transforms users into more physically ideal versions of themselves.
His partner, Jordan Bennett, initially played by Rebecca Hall, turns into a different person in the second episode after contracting drugs in Rome; Jessica Alexander takes over the role from there. As the case heats up, Cooper and Jordan finally get past the friends-with-benefits dynamic and admit their feelings.
When Dr. Diana (Ari Graynor) reveals a plan to stop Byron (Ashton Kutcher) and his trillion-dollar drug empire to the public in episode nine, Cooper volunteers to personally bypass Byron’s company’s facial recognition technology. Instead of injecting it, he contracts it by sleeping with Jordan — leading to the season’s most brutal scene, as his bones break and his body twists. But instead of becoming an unrecognizable adult, Cooper turns into a young boy.
Eventually, Cooper, desperate to change again, tries a reverse version of the drug. The episode ends with Jeremy (Jeremy Pope), the killer (Anthony Ramos), and Jordan staring in shock at the unseen outcome.
Talk to hollywood Reporter, Peters reflects on depicting this painful twist and twists of the ending and how they set the stage for a potential second season. He also teased what fans can expect from the upcoming Greatest Hits season American Horror Story He shares how “shocked” he was to learn that Jessica Lange would be returning before then beauty Premiere. (Click here for this information.)
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Transformation scenes of taking “beauty” Drugs are really intense and physical – how did you prepare for it, and what was the hardest part about filming?
Mark Fichera and Jason Mello are our exciting team, and they worked hard to develop a prequel scene that involved a lot of different movements and a lot of wire work. They had quirks. Ryan has worked hard to get it right. The main note was just pain, writhing pain, (He laughs) Thirst and fever like no other before. It was intense filming, but fun in the end. It was difficult, but interesting. I had never done anything like this before, and I didn’t know I could do a backbend. (He laughs.) I can’t do that again. There’s a shot where I bent down and actually, I think I pulled my back. I was screaming like: “This is real!” (He laughs.) This pain is really real.
Your transformation had a big twist – you turned into a little boy. What was your reaction when you found out this happened? As an executive producer of the series, did you have any say in this decision?
Oh, no, no. There are a lot of executive producers, but in fact, there is only one, and that is Mr. Ryan Murphy. I didn’t see that coming. I was like, “So, what are we going to do? Who’s going to play. Who’s going to play?” [me]? What’s going on?” Then he told me it was going to be a little boy. I was open to anything, and the fact that it was shocking and exciting. I’m curious to see how the audience responds. I think that’s funny, especially Jessica [Alexander]Performing after the love of her life turned into a little boy. So there’s a lot of things to play with there. I’m curious to see how people take it.
The show ends with young Cooper trying to turn things around without revealing whether it actually worked. Was that always the plan to end the season this way, or did it evolve over time?
I honestly don’t know. We didn’t know until we got those scripts halfway through. So I think Ryan and the writers were developing this idea as they went along, and then settled on it. But it sets it up for season two. The episodes are very short and generally end with a cliffhanger. You really want to know what’s going on, so it makes you want to binge it. Personally, I really want to know what season 2 looks like. What a world looks like with “beauty” everywhere now, and people intentionally understanding it and what that looks like. I think he sets it up well for that.
What would you like to see for Jordan and Cooper’s relationship in the future? Are you optimistic for them?
The whole series – the beginning of the series, and behind the scenes [Rebecca Hall] Filmed as Jordan – you’re rooting for them all the way. You want them to express their feelings, be together and stop the fronts, which is why you should do it immediately. Just say what you feel, and be with the person you’re meant to be with. Speak your truth. I hope they can do it for them.
Were you prepared for the scenes after your character was transformed, and did you give any guidance to the actor taking over the role of Cooper in the remaining episodes?
I didn’t get to meet the young Cobb. And you know, he didn’t need any help from me; The kid was great.
since beauty It’s not an anthology series and it appears to be ongoing, have you and Ryan Murphy had any early conversations about what you envision for its future? And do you have ideas for your characters’ arcs in mind?
I don’t know. The comic book series begins with the world already out of “The Beauty” for a while. So there’s a lot of different aspects to it, like an Oprah-type talk show host who has “beauty” and who advocates for people who have “beauty” and all these different things. Then there’s the underground sex club where people go down there to get “pretty,” and what does that world look like? I’m curious to see how Ryan will develop that and bring it to the screen, because it’s going to be interesting. Fingers crossed.
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All episodes beauty It is currently streaming on Hulu. Check all Hollywood Reporter‘s beauty Coverage here, Including our first interviews with Ashton Kutcher, Bella Hadid, and Rebecca Hall and the final interview with Anthony Ramos And Jeremy Pope And a complete list of actors and characters.
