Niecy Nash-Betts on starring in FX’s Grotesquerie: “Anything that scares me a little, I run towards it”

Early on in Grotesquerie’s season-one finale, which dropped on October 30, Niecy Nash-Betts’s character loudly asks, “What the fuck is this freak show?” The sentiment nicely epitomizes FX’s horror series, which hails from the twisted and prolific mind of Ryan Murphy. Chock-full of gory violence and emotional drama, the surreal Grotesquerie is grounded by Nash-Betts’s stellar (and, frankly, award-worthy) performance. 

In the series, she plays Lois Tryon, a small-town detective convinced she’s the target of a serial killer. Seven episodes in, it’s revealed that the deaths are in her head because Lois is in a coma. Once she awakens, however, a real killer is indeed on the prowl. Her personal life is also in shambles: Lois, a recovering alcoholic, slept with her son-in-law (Travis Kelce) and is separating from her predatory husband (Courtney B. Vance). So yes, Grotesquerie is a lot to handle, but Nash-Betts seems more than up to handling it. 

The A.V. Club spoke with the actor about why she was attracted to this complex role, collaborating with Murphy, and the type of work she hopes to do next.   

The A.V. Club: Lois is put through the wringer in Grotesquerie. What was it like going into this role?

Niecy Nash-Betts: Oh, it was scary, and that made me want to lean in even more. Anything that scares me a little or that I’ve never done before, I run towards it. I was happy to get to unpack what Ryan had on the page. I had many conversations about it with him. Even though Lois was in the throes of her addiction in her coma life, she was presented as very strong. In her awake life—that is, in her real life—she was a lot more vulnerable and a lot more fragile. So it was fun to play both of those parts of her. 

AVC: The finale ends with Lois, who is ready to leave everything and work on herself in an institution, returning to her position as a detective. Why was it necessary for her to come full circle like this? 

NN: In the end, somebody had to do [the job], even when Lois just wanted to go to the mental institution and get herself together. Remember, she says “I think I’m dead” by the time the Chief of Police, Megan (Micaela Diamond), tells her to come back. As they say, you can rest when you’re dead, but that’s not a luxury that Lois is obviously afforded. So she goes, “Let me put my white coat back on and let me get back out of here because somebody has to do it.” She says that at the end, too, when she asks who else is going to solve this thing. It’s not going to be Megan. It was the fact that she did not want anything else that happened in her dream to play out in real life with this copycat killer. She knows she is the only one who can combat this evil. 

AVC: Do you think she even wants this responsibility? She was so close to leaving it all behind. 

NN: Every Black woman I know is tired and still has to lead the charge, still has to make it happen, still has to figure it all out, still has to push through. Having the luxury of just having your life be your own and lying back on a beach somewhere, eating shrimp and having a cocktail, that’s not the life for most of the women I know. I understood that part about Lois. So when she thinks, “Okay, I’m going to go off and relax and work on myself,” they pull her back in. And it’s because she really cares that she does it. She can’t turn her back on Megan. She can’t let these crimes keep happening because no one is going to be able to get to the bottom of it but her. She’s the chosen one. 

AVC: Was it cathartic to play someone with mental-health issues? Or was it daunting? 

NN: I always try to find a place where my character and I intersect. I want to be able to find that portal of what we have in common. You learn things from the people that you play. But I also try not to use my characters as therapy. If I can learn something from them at least, that’s fine. 

AVC: Your character has hard-hitting one-on-one interactions with everyone on the show. I thought Lois’ scenes with her daughter, Merritt, were the toughest and most affecting to watch. Do you have any favorites? 

NN: Everybody on this cast is so talented, but yes, I also love the mother-and-daughter dynamic between myself and Raven Goodwin, who plays Merritt. I love that that relationship is so complicated. Yet you could still tell that there are remnants of the love from a short window that they had until Lois’ addiction and work took over and it became super hard to manage. I also enjoyed unpacking the relationship with Megan Duvall in both versions—in the coma and real life—because they were so different. Lois needed Sister Megan when she was in the coma because she knew all about the religious overtones of the crimes. In waking life, Megan needed Lois because she knew she couldn’t do this by herself and she didn’t have the bandwidth for it. So even if Lois wants to rest, sit down, and get her nerves together, she can’t. 

AVC: What was it like to perform all of Lois’ intense monologues? 

NN: Oh my god. I just used to call Ryan and go, “I used to think you were a nice guy. Why did you give me these monologues? You’re killing me.” He said it was because they were going to be so great. I was nervous about how I was going to remember all of them, but, you know, I think was able to stick the landing. 

AVC: You’ve collaborated with Ryan on multiple projects that show off your range, from Scream Queens to Dahmer to this one. How has the experience been and what have you learned in the process? 

NN: I love it so much. To be trusted with that level and range of work only happens because someone else trusts you to show up and do what needs to be done. I learned with Grotesquerie that I can do it and to trust my gift. A lot of people told me stuff along the lines of “your lane is comedy” because that’s where they met me. And oftentimes, people want to leave you where they meet you. But I knew my instrument, and I knew I could do it. I just had to trust it enough to say “I really want to play this role.”  

And then for Ryan to say yes? That’s when I got scared. I’m like, “Oh lord, I know I said I could do it but now I really have to make Lois as grounded as possible.” So many people have texted and called me to say they thought Grotesquerie was going to be the next American Horror Story season. Well, it’s not. If it was, I would have been on AHS, right? This is not that. It’s a completely different thing. So I love that even with all that he’s done, Ryan is still innovative, creative, and has his pulse on the moment. 

AVC: Have you talked to him about what a potential second season of Grotesquerie might look like? 

NN: You know what? I would love to. We haven’t talked about what it would look like because as soon as I wrapped up Grotesquerie, I started working on Ryan’s new show, All’s Fair, with Kim Kardashian, Sarah Paulson, Glenn Close, Teyana Taylor, Naomi Watts…all those amazing girls. I didn’t even have a chance to sit down to wonder what season two could look like. I didn’t get to ask Ryan, “What are you thinking about it?” He just went like, “Ma’am, here’s another script—go stand over there.”  [Laughs] But I would love to return for it. 

AVC: You’ve had a storied career already but are there any roles on your wish list? Or are there TV shows you’ve seen that you’d love to be part of? 

NN: I’ve never played a villain. I think that would be something fun to find in my instrument. I’m always nice, loving, and funny. I can be tough sometimes or strong, but a villain? That would be cool. I also just finished watching Reasonable Doubt, and I’m getting into Shrinking season two. I love that show. Oh, and I know what TV show I would love to be a part of. It’s Hacks with Jean Smart. 

AVC: What’s a role you consider pivotal to shaping your career? 

NN: The most life-changing role for me was playing Nurse Didi Ortley on HBO’s Getting On for three seasons. It was an industry darling. That was my first Emmy nomination and the first time people saw me in a more grounded character. And because of that role, Ava DuVernay called me and said, “Can you come be in Selma?” That led to me doing Netflix’s When They See Us. That led to me doing Origin. So many things sprung forth. I got Claws because of Getting On. All of these beautiful things started to happen as a result of that role.