'AHS' Star Isaac Powell Talks Importance of Show's LGBTQ Representation

Isaac Powell is making a name for himself in the Hollywood industry.

Having made his Broadway debut in Once On This Island—for which he became a Grammy nominee—and starring in the 2020 revival of West Side Story, to be in FX's American Horror Story (AHS) seems like quite the leap.

However, Powell gracefully makes a place for himself in Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's horror anthology series, having appeared in four episodes in season 10 and returning for all of season 11, which recently ended.

Season 11 of AHS, titled "NYC," quite obviously depicts New York City in the year 1981, where a serial killer by the nickname of "Big Daddy" targets members of the LGBTQ community. In season 11, Powell played a photographer named Theo, in a setting that excited him to be a part of.

"When I found out that we were really going to be examining a slice of gay history through the lens of this horror show, I was really excited about that," Powell, who is openly gay, told Newsweek via Zoom.

Working alongside actors Charlie Carver and Zachary Quinto was also a plus, he added, and working in something set in a different time period had called to him.

"Getting to work on a period piece, which I have yet to do in my career, getting to work on something that was set at a particular time, getting to engage with New York in that particular way, all of it, it just sort of came together in my mind as this really exciting opportunity, something that I really wanted to be involved in," Powell said.

For his thoughts on American Horror Story and Broadway, read Isaac Powell's conversation with Newsweek below. This interview has been edited and condensed for the sake of length and clarity.

How did American Horror Story come about for you?

Last season, I was invited into the cast by Ryan Murphy. He called me up and told me he had this concept for season 10 "Double Feature," and sort of told me what he had in mind for the character and the journey and the plot and all of that, and I very enthusiastically joined him for that. And then when I was working on that last year, he told me what he had in mind for this season and invited me along for this season as well. So yeah, it really came from him.

Were you an avid viewer of the show?

I was; I think it was the summer before my freshman year of college I binged the first two seasons on Netflix and was absolutely obsessed with it. And then, for my freshman year of college, when the third season was airing, I would host a weekly American Horror Story viewing party in my dorm...To say I was an avid watcher is a bit of an understatement. I was pretty obsessed with the series.

Which season is your favorite? Besides the ones you're in, of course.

Definitely "Coven." Honestly, "Coven" is probably like the top one for me. I love seasons one and two as well. I think just because that was when I really started to fall in love with the show, the first three seasons will always be really special to me.

This season is huge for LGBTQ representation, what is it like for you to be a part of that?

It was really thrilling for me to join this cast in particular because, like you were just saying about representation, so many of the people who are in this cast are the men that I have looked to as inspirations.

I remember when I was graduating from college and just trying to imagine where I fit into this industry, I was looking to people like Zach Quinto and Russell Tovey and Joe Mantello, all of these people who had really arrived at a certain place in the industry and gave me something to look to, so to be invited to be part of this cast was really special for me because I've looked up to all of these people for so long.

And to think that maybe there's somebody looking at me now as part of this group, it's really special to me to be involved and to be able to represent something for someone else.

What is it like working with this cast? You've worked with some American Horror Story legends like Zachary Quinto and Denis O'Hare, and now a lot of new faces as well.

[It's] really thrilling, especially to work with some of these more seasoned performers, actors like Zach and Denis and Joe [Mantello], these people who have been doing this for a while and are so, so incredible. Just watching them craft these characters and watching them work and witnessing their demeanor on set, I was learning so much.

I'm still quite new to doing television and film work, and so just getting to, you know, come to set, and watch these really incredible actors do what they do so well, every day was, you know, not only a really great learning experience for me, but it was also really, really inspirational. I felt very lucky to be able to witness their processes.

All in all, you're starting to become a recognizable member of American Horror Story, how does that feel and can we expect to see you in the next season?

It feels really cool to sort of be considered a member of this group now. This sort of menagerie of actors that tend to return to this show, yeah, I'm really honored to be a part of it. And of course, I would love to continue to work with the franchise.

Was it always in your mind to try TV or had that come as kind of a surprise to you?

I don't know that it was a surprise to me, but when I was starting out in my career, I had my sights set on working on the stage. I kind of always imagined that I would sort of break out on the stage and then that would lead to film and TV opportunities, which it has. So I guess it was always sort of part of the plan, but for a while, I really just had my focus laser set on being on Broadway.

You've done a bit of both television and theater now, and I have to ask, do you prefer one over the other?

For me, it's always the one that I'm not doing that I want to be doing, you know? The grass is always greener. Since I've been doing so much film and TV work over the last few years, I miss theater so, so much, but if you had asked me a few years ago, I would have said that I was craving some camera work. But I hope that the rest of my career continues to be as varied as it has been, I would love to be able to dip my toes back and forth into both mediums because they're just so different, it's like comparing apples to oranges. I really don't favor one or the other.

Looking at future projects besides AHS, can we expect to see you in anything else soon?

You'll have to stay tuned, there are some irons in the fire that I can't quite talk about, but yeah, stay tuned. There's a lot more to come for sure.