Micaela Diamond Teases Twisty ‘Grotesquerie’ Season Finale: “Our Own Theories Were Wrong”
[This story contains spoilers from episodes eight and nine of Grotesquerie.]
Following the shock-twist reveal that flipped everything viewers of FX horror series Grotesquerie thought they knew, the eighth and ninth episodes — which aired back to back this week — continued to peel back the layers of the complex world that had been created by Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts) while she was in a coma and dreaming while in a liminal state. With the introduction of Dr. Witticomb (Santino Fontana), the researcher tells Lois’ daughter Merritt (Raven Goodwin), “If we can advance the science of communicating with people in comas, my hope is we can find ways to awaken them.”
More from The Hollywood Reporter
As Dr. Whitcomb talks Lois through the various alter-egos she created for the people in her real life, an unexpected new character appears to be awakened, however, in the form of a copycat killer recreating the murders Lois recalls from her dreams. In a somewhat full-circle moment, Lois and Megan (Micaela Diamond) now find themselves working as partners again, trying to solve the gruesome mystery all while processing how Lois’ projections have affected the way they view themselves.
“We’re all dealing with so much shame,” Diamond tells The Hollywood Reporter in the chat below. “What I love so much about these episodes is that it has no idea how to deal with it. Just like humans don’t either.”
Ahead of next week’s season finale, Diamond talked to THR about her theories on what Grotesquerie (the name the serial killer goes by) represents and the complicated relationship between Lois and Megan, as well as what audiences can anticipate for the final plot revelation of Ryan Murphy‘s FX twist-after-twist horror series.
***
How did you come to be cast in Grotesquerie?
I sent a self-tape in, like all the other girls, and I ended up getting a call from the casting director to fly out to do a screen test with Ryan. I sat in a room with him and read the first two scenes, and then he asked me, “Do you know the plot twist?” And I was like, “No, I’ve only got the first script.” And he proceeded to tell me all about the series and the various parts I’d play. It was kind of like watching someone for 10 minutes describe a TikTok — you’re not really seeing it but you’re taking in all of this information. And then he was like, “So do it again with that knowledge.” I said, “Give me 30 seconds.” And I did it again. And it just felt collaborative. It felt like we were figuring out who this person was in the moment and how creepy she could be. And then I booked it a few days later. It really was one of those experiences where it was a very normal audition process, but for somebody who’s such a god in our field, and I was incredibly nervous.
You’re one of the lucky ones. Some of the cast members didn’t know about the twist to the story.
Yeah, we got scripts as we were shooting them, especially episodes eight, nine and 10 [the finale]; we got maybe a week before we started shooting each of those. So it was definitely a lot to take in, but it was fun as a company to come together and be like, “Did you read the next script?” We’re in the hair and makeup room trying to decipher what theories people will come up with. Our own theories were wrong.
What intrigued you most about playing Sister Megan and then Megan, the police chief?
Nuns have really tortured audiences for a long time, especially in the Ryan Murphy universe. And there’s so many stories that I’ve loved watching. I think of Meryl Streep and Doubt, and I think of The Magdalene Laundries stories. I think with Sister Megan, there was an opportunity to find some of the humor in her commitment to both being a journalist and a nun, which are two things you probably wouldn’t put together. But I admire her willingness to look at the incredibly dark and evil world. She really believes that will lead people to faith. And I think that is true. My best friend just lost her younger brother, and we found a new spirituality in our lives because of that. It’s that idea that atheists pray on a plane as it’s going down. You end up having to find that kind of higher power energy. I think that sister Megan knows that it’s going to be the case in this small town and manipulates it. Asses to masses.
Even though we now know Sister Megan and Father Charlie’s (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) identities aren’t real, there’s still a lot of religious iconography throughout the series. Is that going to be an important element of the final story?
Yes. The murders in reality are somewhat copycats, even in episodes nine and 10. There’s really a frame-by-frame copy almost in the way that I go up to the Burnsides’ house and see the baby in the pot and all of those kind of grotesque, horrifying moments. I do think that is a part of it, and I wonder how people will see the finale. That’s something I can’t quite give away.
The fight between Sister Megan and Lois in episode seven seems to be a manifestation of her view of their relationship. Meanwhile, we see Megan continue to try to convince people that they’re not adversaries, that Lois was her mentor. What do you think is the true nature of their relationship?
I think mentorship is complicated. And I think that you are watching a Black woman and a white woman who are in the same incredibly flawed field try and navigate that feeling of when somebody young and passionate wants to come in and there’s somebody who knows more than you. I think that mentorship was real for Megan. I think she loves Lois and looks up to her, and she’s learned a lot from her and is under the weight of her almost dying. I think during the coma she probably had a lot come up. There was probably a lot of resentment. She was left to pick up all of the pieces that Lois left for her when she was an alcoholic.
We’re all dealing with so much shame. What I love so much about these episodes is that it has no idea how to deal with it. Just like humans don’t either. I can look for answers in therapy, somebody else can look for answers in the church. And there’s this bizarre thing where Lois is trying to find answers through this Dr. Whitcomb, who is navigating and psychoanalyzing her dreams, and it’s a heightened version of what we all do all the time.
So I really think that she was my mentor. I respect her on a deep level and have no idea what to do without her, really. And I think the insecurity is bringing up a lot of complications within our dynamic and relationship. But I call her and she shows up still. I think she believes in me too and feels for me. And the secondary dynamic of a powerful woman who’s really good at her job being abused at home is an interesting dynamic to see play out on television, too. Just like Lois was a powerful good-at-her-job person too and was addicted to alcohol. It’s like we all have these vices we have to deal with and look under the soil, because there’s something there that’s driving us do these things.
It was thrilling to watch Sister Megan and Father Charlie’s relationship, too. What was it like working with Nicholas Alexander Chavez?
We had so much fun. We met right before we had to shoot the diner scene in episode two, which is a pretty big scene for us. And I remember just jumping in. Sometimes as actors, you really have to do that, and I think it helped in that scene not really knowing each other. We were able to guess and really play off and listen to one another and react, which is all acting is. But he is a real risk-taker. He is totally bizarre. And so it’s kind of easy to play off of because I was just like, “What is going on with this man?” There was so much subtext to some of the words we got to say and the kind of cosplay of it all. I don’t know if the audience will ever know when they started working together, which is so fun for me. I think I have an idea, but I would never share that. I think that it’s so fun for people to decide that dynamic. I think she really found, which is a very common human thread, this kind of loophole to get off on him by doing good work, which is something I think a lot of us do. And that kind of loophole worked until it didn’t, until it erupted into something I don’t know if either of them knew it would become.
In episode eight, when the researchers start explaining things to Lois, saying Grotesquerie is just a totem for the way you see the world, it made me wonder: Do we all have a grotesquerie? Is that what we’re taking from this?
That’s so interesting. I think I always saw it as a representation of good and evil, which is really the only story humans have. They’re caught in their lives and their hungers and their ambitions and their cruelty in that net of good and evil. And I think all of the characters in the series are asking that question, or are in deep shame about that question. And I love the idea of it playing it out in a dream as the thing that’s killing everyone. Because you can really suffocate under that question in certain moments of your life. It’s fun to go back into the reality of the last three episodes and see how everybody’s searching,
Each character could really have their own spinoff to see into their mind. Have there been any conversations about that?
In the hair and makeup trailer (laughs). I have no idea. I don’t have that much power here.
The series has touched on a lot of important themes, with episode nine introducing this concept of a de-evolution of society and the effect of less community and more technology. What do you feel the series is communicating to audiences? Is there a message?
I do think these final three episodes of digging under the soil of why she manifested these people the way she did is really… as she comes back into reality, questioning if it’s worth hurting people in our lives to understand ourselves and further science. And I think what fascinates me about it is that I’m of a generation that’s incredibly therapized, and there’s part of me that’s like, does everything have to be that deep? Do we have to understand all of our motives in life? Is that really going to help us? Or are we in turn just searching for narratives?
And the secondary thing that I think the first half of the season is asking is, are our dreams less important than our reality? Why do we as humans frame our dream state as so ethereal or impressionistic when they’re so real to us? We’ve all woken up from one that has just startled us, and I have always wondered about that. I’ve done surrealist art, so I’ve had to question myself when it comes to those things. And I do find it incredibly interesting how I make a hierarchy for realities. That’s a shrooms question rather than for a magazine (laughs), but I do find it interesting.
Speaking of previous art, Niecy Nash told THR one of her favorite scenes was with you in the car in the desert singing, and that she loved bringing your theater background into this world. What was that scene like for you and the overall experience of this being your first major TV role?
We really had such a blast, and I’m such an enigma to Niecy. I remember on the first day her being like, “Who are you, and where did you come from?” I think that remarkable difference between the two of us really helped our dynamic onscreen. We’re such foils to each other in real life and in the show, and we used it to our advantage. But I am grateful that Ryan decided to write that scene after I was cast because I do love theater. It’s my first true love. It will always be my first true love. I’ve had such an incredible time shooting this TV show because it is so different. It almost feels like cross-training to me.
At the end of the day in TV, the final work is not yours. It’s goes through a million other people: editors, producers, directors, and then you, the audience. And with theater, you have a real responsibility to tell the story each night, and it is your own. And that lack of responsibility is kind of freeing. I’ve enjoyed letting it be theirs. It really does become about the moment of creation and the process of making the work rather than the two and a half hours, eight times a week, which is so fun in its own way. So I’ve loved the challenge of showing up and doing something different every day and trying to surprise myself and getting to play such a weird role.
I just last year was doing Parade as a Southern Jewish woman whose husband gets lynched in Atlanta, Georgia. I am so lucky to have gotten to play such a range of religion and women, and my favorite thing about all of this is that you get to play with really talented people. I’ve gotten so lucky in my career to be opposite Niecy Nash one year, and Ben Platt the year before. I’m just kind of trying to be a sponge and soak in as much as I can. I still feel like a student to the craft. I’ve definitely not put in my 10,000 hours on a set, whereas on a stage I have. I feel comfortable there, and this is a scary endeavor.
What can you tease, if anything, about next week’s finale?
I think you’ll continue to see the complicated dynamic between Lois and Megan, and I hope that continues. I really do. I love those scenes together, but it’s going to be gory and bloody, and I think it will surprise you.
***
Grotesquerie releases its finale Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 10 p.m. on FX (streaming next day on Hulu). Read THR‘s interview with Murphy and FX boss John Landgraf on the twist reveal, as well as with Nash-Betts.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
