Fans Are All Asking 1 Major Question About Jessica Lange In 'The Politician'
If you're anything like me, you devoured all of the first season of Netflix's The Politician as quickly as possible. The dramedy series from TV mastermind Ryan Murphy is insanely watchable, with its countless twists and turns, and wicked sense of humor. Another aspect of the show that makes it just so exciting to watch is its talented cast, which is comprised of an enticing mix of Hollywood legends and young stars on the rise. One such actor in the former camp is Jessica Lange, who lights up the screen in Season 1. But fans are wondering: Will Jessica Lange be in The Politician Season 2? Fans might have seen the last of her fabulously conniving character.
Warning: Spoilers for Season 1 of The Politician follow. Lange plays Dusty Jackson, the grandmother of high school student and apparent cancer patient Infinity Jackson (Zoey Deutch). When Payton Hobart (Ben Platt) recruited Infinity to be his running mate in a super-intense senior class president race, he learned that everything in Inifnity's life might not be exactly as it seems and it's all thanks to her manipulative grandmother. Dusty drove a lot of the drama in Season 1, but when Entertainment Weekly asked Lange if she'll be back for Season 2, she answered, "I don't think so."
By the end of Season 1 of The Politician, Infinity learned she was a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, meaning Dusty had convinced her she was sick when she really wasn't and Dusty was arrested for putting Infinity through unnecessary suffering. In Murphy's TV shows, truly anything is possible, including a character making a comeback after an arrest like that. But even still, Lange doesn't think such a comeback is in the cards for Dusty. She told EW, "Dusty’s not one of those that has a second act. As Fitzgerald says, 'There’s no second act in America.' Especially for her."
Fans of Lange will be sad to learn that there probably won't be any more of Dusty's story in future seasons, but the good news is, Lange will continue to be a part of Murphy's cinematic universe. Lange previously starred in several seasons of American Horror Story, and she played Joan Crawford in Feud: Bette and Joan. Next, she'll play classic Hollywood star Marlene Dietrich in a series produced by Murphy.
Many of Lange's characters, including Dusty, are women with forgotten dreams. She said to EW:
Ryan, I’m not saying he tailors things specifically for me, but they do to a certain degree know what I like to do, know what I can do, know that I’m attracted to those bigger than life moments and emotions, to characters who are teetering on the edge, who are on the verge of madness or whatever.
Dusty certainly sounds like one of those characters she mentioned, but unfortunately fans probably won't get to see any more of her antics. Instead, they'll just have to imagine the kind of "bigger than life moments" Dusty is going to go through behind bars.
Season 1 of The Politician is on Netflix now.