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American Horror Story: Cult

With its seventh season, American Horror Story has again proven it’s the creepiest show on television. Though past seasons like Hotel and Roanoke focused more on capturing a glam horror aesthetic or experimenting with storytelling, American Horror Story: Cult marks a return to the show’s scary roots. And with “11/9” Ryan Murphy’s anthology series proves we’re just at the beginning of this terrifying, too-real nightmare. Episode 4 spoilers ahead.
For the first three episodes of Cult, Evan Peters’ Kai has been lurking in the background, seemingly orchestrating the horrors that plague this Michigan town. That changes in the show’s fourth episode, which focuses almost exclusively on Kai recruiting Harrison (Billy Eichner) and Beverly (Adina Porter) to his creepy, clown-and-pinky-promise-filled cult. Peters has always been a wonderful addition to Ryan Murphy’s arsenal of fictional sociopaths, able to balance the darkness and intensity his roles require with a confusing blend of lovability and charm. Following Peters’ big episode, Decider had the chance to talk to the actor about what it was like playing the ever-unstable Kai, how he prepared for his cult leader-filled future, and whether a huge fan theory connecting Cult’s Oz and one of Peters’ former characters holds any water.
When asked how he felt when show creator Ryan Murphy approached him about an election-themed episode, Peters said he was grateful. “I knew that Ryan is a smart man and would know how to tackle it in an interesting way and open a lot of eyes and hopefully hearts to be scared by what’s going on out there,” he said. “He’s always done everything in an interesting and kind of shocking way, so I was excited because I think it’s going to be cathartic for a lot of people.”

Though the result of the 2016 election is a constant theme throughout this season of American Horror Story, Season 7 is fittingly more about the societal and personal pressures that lead to cults and cult-mentalities. Peters plays several characters in this new season, but he predominantly embodies the blue-haired super Trump fan, Kai. Kai has always been a sinister presence in Cult, but in “11/9” we finally see what he’s capable of as he pressures Harrison (Eichner) to kill his boss, Beverly (Porter) to alter the news to fit his interests, and Gary (Chaz Bono) to cut his arm off in a desperate attempt to get to the polls in time.

“I know what his motivation is,” Peters said of Kai. “It’s world domination.”
“He basically wants to tear it all down and start fresh with him as the ultimate leader slash dictator,” he said. “[Kai is] a complete megalomaniac and sociopath, so that’s what he has in mind.”
Kai is immediately a morbidly interesting character to watch, but according to Peters, he’s a difficult one to embody. “It’s one of the most difficult roles I’ve ever had to play. And you know, maintain a life as well, and maintain my sanity and who I am as a person when you’re dealing with such extreme behavior that is not condonable in any way,” he said.
Peters also admitted he had a hard time separating himself from the character. “He’s so volatile and really — he’s zero to 180 in 2.5 seconds,” he said. “So you’re always kind of on edge, and Kai’s just kind of always very stressed out and angry and anxious and frustrated and wanting everything to always happen now, but also a complete narcissist.”
Because Peters just wrapped last Friday, he has yet to see this new season. However, he’s excited to watch, and he teased that he may be live tweeting during future episodes. “As it progresses, I’m in it more and more and you start to see who Kai is, and why he is the way that he is, and how he starts to recruit people, and how the cult is growing and getting scarier and scarier and making more insane choices,” he said.

Ryan Murphy and John Landgraf have also revealed that Kai isn’t the only cult leader Peters will be playing this season. It’s been teased during press events for this season that Peters will be playing a total of five cult leaders or cult-like personalities, including Charles Manson and Jim Jones, who is known for the Jonestown mass murder. Peters said he did as much research as he could to prepare for these roles, largely relying on documentaries and specials available on YouTube.
“It’s really tragic what happened to each of these cults and people who were involved with the cult leaders. All horrific, tragic endings, so it was difficult,” he said. “Luckily there was a lot of information. I read a book called Seductive Poison about the Jonestown Massacre and Combatting Cult Mind Control, which was a great book on how people get indoctrinated into the cults and what keeps them there.”
The actor also mentioned that the 1973 Manson documentary was a big part of his research. Though the documentary doesn’t heavily feature Charles Manson, it captures his cult of personality. “[It] was really fascinating to watch, and to hear them talk about Charlie and all of his trips — you know, death was his trip. It seemed like love was his trip at first, but death was his trip,” he said. “Just the way they talk about him is kind of a fascinating experience.”
However, the most difficult cult leader Peters researched was Jim Jones. Jones was responsible for the Jonestown massacre, which led to the deaths of 918 people and was the biggest loss of American life prior to the September 11 attacks. While researching the role, Peters found the last tape Jones left before telling his followers to commit suicide.
“They actually had the recording of the last — the mass suicide tape that Jim Jones was recording as he told the followers to drink the cyanide Kool-Aid. And there’s this woman who’s trying to convince Jones that it’s not the right thing to do, and he’s saying, ‘No, it is the right thing to do,’ and you hear everybody cheering in the background. You hear kids screaming and crying, and it’s just a horrific experience to listen to that,” Peters said. “I listened to it nonstop because I really wanted to get Jim Jones and his voice, but it’s also that you want to ensure that people know that all this stuff he did, it did really happen in the real world. And you want people to know that people were hurt and injured and lives were ruined. People were killed, and it’s a real thing.”
“That was something that I hope people can take away from this, not just the political stuff and how current it is, but that cults to exist currently in our times and also to learn from the mistakes of people in the past and to just be aware,” he said. “To know whether or not you’re in a cult is an important thing.”

The actor also addressed a fan theory that’s been floating around AHS circles. The theory speculates that Ally (Sarah Paulson) and Ivy’s (Alison Pill) son Oz (Cooper Dodson) is actually the son of American Horror Story: Murder House’s Tate (Peters) and Viven (Connie Britton). “No, no. He was definitely born of Ally and Ivy,” he said.
When asked which of his past American Horror Story characters he’d like to return to, Peters initially said, “None of them. They’re all way too insane.” However, after giving it some thought, he said, “I’d probably like to redo Season 2 and redo Jimmy a little bit, do him a little differently.”
Peters also revealed what he’s been watching lately. “I have been watching Cosmos. I know that’s fairly old, but I’m just getting on that train. I’m always curious to discover why we’re here on this earth,” he said.
As is always the case with American Horror Story, there’s a lot going on in this new season. However, “11/9” proves that the character we need to be paying close attention to is Kai. Though we’re only four episodes into this season, the show has successfully started to shape a world in which a megalomaniac cult leader gaining power doesn’t seem that impossible. Considering this season so closely mirrors America’s current reality, that’s an unsettling prospect. “It’s an eye-opener for sure,” Peters said. “The show this year is very impressive in how current it is, and I think you’ll be shocked at how current some of it is.”
New episodes of American Horror Story: Cult air on Tuesdays at 10pm ET/PT on FX.