In its first four seasons, the FX series “American Horror Story” has been set in haunted houses and insane asylums, and among witches and sideshow freaks.

For season five, the show is moving into an old hotel, and Cheyenne Jackson is among the guests.

Jackson − a Newport, Washington, native who acted on numerous Spokane-area stages before he found success on Broadway and in Hollywood − has been a huge fan of the show, he said in a phone interview from Santa Monica. “I’ve seen all the seasons,” he said. “But I knew I was going to be in this season about halfway through last season, so I watched that one with a little different eye.”

Jackson plays Will Drake, a fashion icon who checks into the Cortez Hotel in Los Angeles with his son. He aims to relocate his fashion empire from the East to the City of Angels. As with everyone in the “American Horror Story” universe, Drake is probably not all that he appears to be.

“The thing about this show is that it’s not the typical protagonist-antagonist, normal couple goes in and gets terrorized,” he said. “Everybody, even those who seem like the normal person, everybody has dark stuff to do. I wouldn’t say I’m good or bad. There’s definitely a little gray area.”

Jackson is joining an all-star cast of “AHS” veterans and newcomers in “American Horror Story: Hotel.” Returning players include Sarah Paulson, who’s been in every season, as well as Kathy Bates, Emma Roberts, Angela Bassett, Chloe Sevigny, Matt Bomer, Finn Wittrock, Wes Bentley and Mare Winningham. Newcomers include Jackson, Naomi Campbell and Lady Gaga.

“AHS” has always attracted top-notch talent: Oscar winners and Oscar nominees. Emmy winners. Grammy winners. That makes for a fun set, Jackson said, but one that’s serious about the work.

“You really have to hit the ground running, you have to be prepared, you have to be on it,” Jackson said. “Because everybody’s there to play, and everybody’s there to knock every moment of every scene out of the park. You gotta bring it. Everything’s very heightened. There’s a lot of eyeballs looking at you.”

It’s Gaga’s casting that has drawn a lot of attention. The pop superstar hasn’t done a ton of acting outside of her artful and elaborate music videos. She had small roles in 2013’s “Machete Kills” and 2014’s “Sin City: A Dame to Die For,” and she did appear in a 2001 episode of “The Sopranos” as Girl at Swimming Pool #2, according to the IMDb). In “AHS,” she plays Elizabeth, also known as the Countess, who owns the Cortez Hotel and has a thing for blood.

“[Lady Gaga is] very creepy and scary, but in a very emotional way, which I like,” series creator Ryan Murphy told “Entertainment Tonight” recently. “I think this season of all of them feels like our most modern season, it’s definitely our most sexual season. It all starts with that lead actor, which she is for us, and she doesn’t disappoint − I’ll tell you that much.”

Jackson said he hadn’t met Lady Gaga before this, but that he’s been a huge fan.

“I’ve seen her five times in concert, in all different areas,” Jackson said. “It’s been really fun. … I’ve worked with her a lot, I have a lot of stuff with her, so it’s great. She’s wonderful. She’s totally professional and prepared. Pretty exhilarating to be around if I’m honest.”

Murphy and fellow series creator Brad Falchuk have said “Hotel” will be darker than previous seasons. That may not seem possible to anyone who still gets shivers over Zachary Quinto’s serial killer in “Asylum” or that terrifying clown from “Freakshow.”

The actors themselves don’t have a sense of exactly how scary the show will be until they see the completed episodes.

“I’m really excited to see it,” Jackson said. “You think shooting a scary show is really scary all the time, but it’s not. There are moments when we’re doing it where we’re like, ‘Wow, this is going to be so scary and creepy.’ But part of the fun of ‘Horror Story’ is the editing and music and the effects, and a lot of that stuff we don’t see.”

For Jackson, who turned heads on Broadway in 2005 in “All Shook Up” and in the 2006 film “United 93,” work on a series has been his aim in recent years. He had a recurring role on “30 Rock” and a good story arc on “Glee” (also created by Ryan Murphy). In an interview last year, Jackson joked about being 0-10 when it comes to filming pilots that don’t get picked up.

“I’ve been waiting for something to hit,” he said. “Just my luck it happens to be one of the most well-received and most well-written, buzzy shows to be on. And Ryan has written me the part of a lifetime. You hang in there long enough, one of them is bound to hit.”

The shoot itself is challenging. “Single-camera television takes a long time anyway because you have to get so much coverage, so many angles. This show does take a little longer than others, because it looks so beautiful and it’s shot in a particular way, the cinematographers really think outside the box. … It is long hours and it’s long days on set, but it’s a dream job. I’m sitting there on set with Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett. It’s nice work if you can get it.”

His first scene, was filmed with Bates and was an amazing experience.

“Kathy, to me, is one of our greatest living actresses,” Jackson said. “To have that be my very first scene when I walked on set … my head was exploding.”

Shooting in Los Angeles is a plus for Jackson, who relocated back to the West Coast in the past couple years after more than a decade in New York. “We just bought a house here, my husband’s and our whole lives are here,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to drive to the set and drive home at night.”

After shooting wraps, probably in mid-December, Jackson said he’s not sure where this journey will take him. He’s still performing in concert − and performed in Spokane in May 2014 − and is getting ready to work on his second album, a follow up to 2013’s “I’m Blue, Skies.” He certainly would be up for another season of “American Horror Story.”

“I’m ready for whatever happens,” he said.