Ariana Grande may have dropped out of American Horror Story Season 13, but Ryan Murphy isn't giving up on getting her back into his twisted television universe.
After fans were disappointed to learn that Grande would no longer appear in the upcoming season, Murphy has revealed that her departure was simply a scheduling problem - and he's already leaving the door wide open for another season.
Grande, who previously worked with Murphy on Scream Queens, had initially agreed to a small role in American Horror Story. But there was one major problem: she also had a tour looming.
Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter that when he first approached Grande with his idea, she immediately warned him that her schedule could become complicated.
"I'm not sure because I think I'm going on tour," Murphy recalled Grande telling him.
When the time finally arrived to shoot her episode, the conflict became impossible to ignore.
"I don't know how I'm going to juggle the tour with this," Grande reportedly told Murphy.
Rather than kill the idea altogether, Murphy offered an intriguing alternative: save it for later.
"OK, if you can't, we can push to another season," he told her, with Grande responding, "Great."
Murphy also shut down any suggestion that Grande's withdrawal had something to do with her stepping away from public life, insisting it was "really, truly a scheduling conflict."
And considering Grande had just completed the Wicked movies, had new music arriving and was preparing to tour, Murphy admitted there wasn't exactly much room left on her calendar.
"Who is busier than Ariana Grande? No one," he joked.
But the most tantalizing part came when Murphy revealed that the role itself may not be dead.
"I might bring that back for another season, per Ariana's availability," he said. "I think the world of her."
In other words, Grande's American Horror Story debut may have been delayed rather than canceled.
Murphy also dropped another piece of television nostalgia during the interview: Glee could potentially return.
The producer revealed that he is "considering" bringing back the musical series, noting that a generation who grew up watching the show is now in its 20s.
"For many, many people now in their 20s, they grew up on that show and it meant something to them," Murphy said. "The music meant something. So, let's kick it around and see what we get."
Between a possible Ariana Grande appearance on American Horror Story and Murphy openly entertaining a return to Glee, it seems some of his most famous television worlds may not be finished after all.
