PaleyFest: Scream Queens Season 2 Cast, Plot Revealed

Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens was something of a surprise renewal earlier this year, but even after getting the greenlight for a second season the future direction of the show was still uncertain. Would Murphy enlist an entirely new cast in the style of FX's anthology series Fargo, or would the stars of the first season return for another round of tongue-in-cheek scares?

(from left) Billie Lourd, Emma Roberts and Abigail Breslin in Scream Queens

Yesterday, the latter was revealed to be true as at the PaleyFest Scream Queens panel, co-creator Brad Fulchuk announced many of the shows cast members would be returning for the show's sophomore season. In fact, the only people absent from the panel were Oliver Hudson and Skyler Samuels who played the father-daughter duo Grace and Wes during the show's first year; given that neither names appear in a promotional video released by FOX yesterday (see below), we can probably assume that the pair will only appear in the second season in small roles if at all.

RT to welcome the returning #ScreamQueens cast! #PaleyFest pic.twitter.com/P75H7ULrJ2

— Scream Queens (@ScreamQueens) 13 March 2016 

 

Plot details were also announced as it was revealed the show's second season will take place in a hospital owned and run by Jamie Lee Curtis' Dean Munsch, who decides to move into the world of healthcare after being inspired by a trip around the world. Keke Palmer's Zayday Williams will have graduated to the position of trainee doctor under Munsch's watchful eye, but as things start going horribly awry once again Niecy Nash's Denise Hemfield (now an FBI agent) will be dragged in to get to the bottom of a new mystery.

 

Lea Michele's unhinged killer Hester and the now institutionalised Chanels (Emma Roberts, Abigail Breslin and Billie Lourd) will also play a role in this new story as will Glen Powell's Chad Radwell.

Season 1 of Scream Queens in retrospect

The first season of Scream Queens had the misfortune of a weak pilot which overplayed the spoilt nature of Emma Roberts' Chanel Oberlin, while underplaying the show's tongue-in-cheek horror aspects and the unique personalities of the show's other main characters. I truly believe this pilot was at least partly to blame for the show's subsequent ratings struggle as many viewers were turned off by such a bad first impression.

 

This is a great shame as for those who stuck with the show, Scream Queens became something of an obsession. The show provided some very memorable personalities, shocking plot twists with every episode, often hilarious satire and enough gore to please fans of the horror genre.

 

While the season finale perhaps wasn't as fulfilling as fans hoped it would have been, it was an adequate end to a memorable run and has left this fan looking to season two with optimism. Expect Scream Queens to have a prominent presence at this year's TEN Film and Television Awards, the nominees of which are to be announced sometime in the next week.

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