Taissa Farmiga Talks ‘American Horror Story: Coven’

Taissa Farmiga, breakout star of FX Network’s 2011 hit American Horror Story, has a knack for delivering powerful performances portraying troubled teens.

Farmiga, sister of actress Vera Farmiga, was an unknown until the gritty, grisly drama brought her into millions of households worldwide. Taissa played Violet Harmon, a clever and sarcastic self-mutilating teen whose family moved into the infamous “Murderhouse,” a home haunted by the spirits of its murder victims. Violet falls in love Tate Langdon, a murderous spirit who’s also one of her father’s psychiatry patients.

Sounds like an interesting challenge.

While some of the cast of American Horror Story stayed on for its second incarnation, Asylum, Taissa took season two off. In 2012, she filmed The Bling Ring, based on true crimes in Hollywood, and Middleton, working alongside her big sister as Vera’s character’s daughter.

One of the benefits of American Horror Story‘s anthology format, telling a new tale each season, is that Farmiga is able to jump back into the cast without the show’s writers to explain her absence because, hey, it’s a new character. On Coven, Taissa portrays Zoe Benson, a teenage with who discovers her shocking and violent powers during… difficult circumstances. Zoe is shipped off to a special witch school in New Orleans, where she and her classmates must learn to embrace their powers as modern-day witches.

Farmiga recently took the time to sit down with Piya Sinha-Roy for Reuters to talk AHS. Here are some of the highlights:

Taissa on returning to the show:

• “I was there at the very beginning then I took a little break but it’s nice to be back with the crew and cast and just to be on this crazy show. I love it. It feels nice.”

On Farmiga’s new character, Zoe Benson:

• “The character is very different. The tone of this season is very different. For me, I’m a little older, a little more mature, I play a character who is in a different stage of her life than Violet was, it’s just different hurdles.”

Taissa on her challenges for Coven:

• “Dealing with Zoe’s sexuality that’s attached to her character, dealing with her special abilities, just trying to figure out how she would deal with it, trying to get into her mind. It’s a crazy thing to have to deal with because when you’re not able to get intimate with someone, it makes you think about your future, it kind of makes you nervous and upset.”

Farmiga on the popularity of witches:

• “There’s something about the supernatural and having powers to make things easier. It’s trying to let your imagination run wild. Being able to move things or read people’s minds, it’s appealing to people, it’s weird and special.”

Click here for the full transcript with Taissa.

Check out Taissa Farmiga and the rest of the cast of American Horror Story: Coven Wednesday nights on FX.