Jessica Lange has played multiple characters in the horror anthology series American Horror Story. Her performances are exceptional and her roles are iconic, particularly season one’s murder house matriarch Constance Langdon and season three’s Supreme witch Fiona Goode.
Constance had a guest appearance in Apocalypse’s “Return to Murder House,” which saw the witches of Coven interact with the spirits of Murder House. Both of her roles in each season were exceptional, but which is Jessica Lange’s most definitive character? Here are five reasons why it is Constance Langdon and five reasons why it’s Fiona Goode.
Constance: She’s The Matriarch Of The Murder House
Constance Langdon appearing on the staircase in “Return to Murder House” and proudly informing Madison Montgomery and Behold Chablis who the owner of the house is was the best moment in Apocalypse. No other character has given as much to the house and no other character could manage the chaos that dwells there.
Constance is synonymous with the murder house and it is only fitting that she chose to spend her afterlife there. However, after Mallory reversed the events of the apocalypse by traveling through time, it is unknown whether or not Constance became another ghostly resident of the house after all.
Fiona: She’s The Supreme Witch
Jessica Lange has played multiple iconic characters in American Horror Story but none were more powerful than Fiona Goode. As the Supreme witch, Fiona’s powers were near limitless and she was not a threat to be taken lightly.
Nan remarks that Fiona is the Supreme after the witch queen returns to Miss Robichaux’s Academy, insinuating that she is to be treated with respect. Fiona’s powerful presence was one of the highlights of Coven and one of Jessica Lange’s best performances.
Constance: She’s A Complex Character
Constance is a conflicted character. Sometimes she is despicable and fans can’t help but loathe her, yet other times she is a sympathetic and vulnerable person with understandable motivations that fans reluctantly relate to.
The grey morality and complexity of Constance are what makes her character so interesting. She contradicts herself often, especially in regards to her relationship with her daughter Addy, yet remains sympathetic to the audience.
Fiona: She’s A Sophisticated Woman
Jessica Lange told American Horror Story writer and creator Ryan Murphy that she wanted to play a sophisticated woman in the third season. Fiona Goode certainly delivers on that promise, with a powerful presence on-screen and a glamorous wardrobe of sophisticated outfits.
Fiona stands out on-screen due to her air of elegance, which suits the grandeur of the character. She is a confident and powerful witch who was never content to live a small, simple life.
Constance: She Was Jessica Lange’s First Role
Constance Langdon was actress Jessica Lange’s role in the popular horror anthology series and, in a way, there is no beating the original. Constance was a driving force in Murder House and it was her presence that often contributed to the creepy, eerie feeling in the house.
It is interesting to note that when Jessica Lange returned to American Horror Story in Apocalypse she did so as her first character, Constance. As the professed “mother of monsters,” she has had a much bigger impact on the series’ story as a whole.
Fiona: Her Team-Up With Marie Laveau
Fiona Goode and Marie Laveau were both powerful queens in their own right. They were brilliant enemies but made an even better team, with Papa Lega remarking that the two of them together were a formidable pair.
Fiona and Marie team up to take revenge on the witch hunters in a glorious spectacle during Coven. Unlike Fiona, Marie returned during Apocalypse to help Cordelia and the witches take on Michael Langdon.
Constance: She’s The Highlight Of Murder House
The first season of American Horror Story remains one of the series’ best seasons and a large part of its success can be attributed to Constance Langdon. As the mother of Tate, Addy, and Beau, Constance had deep ties to the house and contributed to the show’s creepy tone with her cryptic remarks and penchant for disappearing mid-conversation.
All of the characters in Murder House are complex and interesting, yet Jessica Lange’s performance still stands out as exceptional. Her exchanges with Moira O’Hara are another highlight of the season.
Fiona: Her Relationship With Cordelia
American Horror Story: Coven focuses on the turbulent relationship between mothers and daughters, particularly Fiona and Cordelia’s strained relationship. Cordelia is disdainful of her mother and with good reason, yet there is still love between the two witches.
Fiona loved her daughter dearly but could not express it in the right way. It was only right that Cordelia was revealed to be the next Supreme as she was the only person Fiona could never bring herself to kill.
Constance: She’s The Mother Of Monsters
Constance makes an iconic return in “Return to Murder House” and we learn of the troubling childhood of the Anti-Christ, Michael Langdon. Constance tells the witches that she was born to raise the monsters, which makes sense considering her son Tate’s atrocities.
This is a symbolic moment in the narrative and an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Constance is only the mother of monsters because of her own choices.
Fiona: She Had Redeeming Qualities
When we first meet Fiona Goode in American Horror Story: Coven she seems like an irredeemable villain with no likable traits. She indeed commits a series of atrocities throughout the season, but fans also see a soft side to Fiona that suggests that the Supreme witch isn’t all bad.
After her daughter Cordelia is blinded by an acid attack, a distraught Fiona goes to the maternity ward and resurrects a stillborn baby after making her mother promise to look after her. It is moments like this that contradict the selfish Supreme that Fiona usually is, proving that she has a heart after all.
