She’s baaack! Jessica Lange returned to the “American Horror Story” franchise in “Apocalypse” after a four-year break and wound up receiving an Emmy nomination for reprising her role of chain-smoking nosy neighbor Constance Langdon. As this eighth season contained continuing storylines and characters from both “AHS: Murder House” and “AHS: Coven,” the Emmys forced it to compete as a drama series this year, as opposed to a limited series which is where first seven installments competed. As such, Lange ended up nabbing a nomination as Best Drama Guest Actress. Can she now scare up her fourth career Emmy win?

Lange appeared in the sixth hour of Season 8, titled “Return to Murder House,” which just happened to be directed by series lead Sarah Paulson. In this episode, witches Madison (Emma Roberts) and Behold (Billy Porter) travel to the haunted Season 1 residence at Cordelia’s (Paulson) request to try to learn more information about the antichrist, aka Michael (Cody Fern). While there, the “witchy-poos” run into the ghostly visage of Constance, who reveals that she killed herself years earlier by taking pills and drinking whiskey.

It turns out that Constance’s last years on earth involved trying to save Michael from evil, but the young boy’s murderous tendencies kept getting worse and worse. Constance understood that her last chance at being a mother failed miserably, so she took her own life in the haunted house so that she could be reunited with her family. After finishing her story, Constance leaves Madison and Behold behind and meets up with her daughter Rose. Both ghosts soon disappear from view.

PROS

Simply put, Lange is an awards magnet, taking home two Oscars and three Emmys. For her film work she prevailed for “Blue Sky” (Best Actress in 1994) and “Tootsie” (Best Supporting Actress in 1982). On television she won for “Grey Gardens” (2009), “American Horror Story: Murder House” (2012) and “American Horror Story: Coven” (2014).

This would be Lange’s second victory for playing “Murder House” stand-out Constance Langdon and as we know, Emmy voters love repeats. Lange definitely gets a boost as she’s the only person in her category to prevail for the same character before. Cherry Jones (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) previously won for “24” (2009) and Cicely Tyson (“How to Get Away With Murder”) took home trophies for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” (1974) and “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” (1994). The other three guest actresses are hoping for their first Emmy victories: Laverne Cox (“Orange is the New Black”), Phylicia Rashad (“This Is Us”) and Carice van Houten (“Game of Thrones”).

CONS

Sure, Lange wins a lot of Emmys, but she actually lost the last two times she was nominated for acting: “American Horror Story: Freak Show” (2015) and “Feud” (2017). Does that suggest TV academy members are interested in spreading the wealth?

In recent years this specific Emmy race has been won by guest actresses who are essentially supporting players on their shows: Samira Wiley (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) in 2018, Alexis Bledel (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) in 2017, Margo Martindale (“The Americans”) in 2015 and 2016 and Allison Janney (“Masters of Sex”) in 2014. Might that favor recurring guest stars like Jones, Tyson, Cox and van Houten?

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