Pepper is officially returning to "American Horror Story!"
The fan favorite microcephalic character, played by Naomi Grossman in "American Horror Story: Coven," the second season of the FX anthology series, was rumored to appear in "Freak Show" after an unofficial call sheet from production in New Orleans leaked last July, Huffington Post reported.
But now, series' co-creator Ryan Murphy confirmed that the Briarcliff patient will indeed appear in the highly anticipated installment of the Emmy-winning show.
"She is in this [season]," Murphy told Entertainment Weekly.
Pepper is one of the entertainers in the freak show being managed by Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange). She joins Jimmy (Evan Peters), who was born with lobster-like hands, the conjoined twins Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson), the bearded lady Ethel (Kathy Bates), three breasted woman Desiree (Angela Bassett), strongman Dell (Michael Chiklis) and many others.
"What Elsa has done for 20 years is she goes around to hospitals and jails and rescues these 'freak' circus performers who are going to be shipped away to asylums and she signs the waivers and she becomes their guardians," explained Murphy, noting that "Freak Show" takes place in 1952 - 12 years before the events in "Asylum," so the timing works out well.
"Freak Show" "is sort of like what happened to Pepper before she went to the asylum," added the 48-year-old Primetime Emmy-winning director.
Murphy reuses actors in the series, but this is the first time in four years where a character from a previous season will appear in another installment, E! News noted.
Murphy admitted that he and the producers of the show did not move forward with the idea easily. "We thought about it long and hard and we decided that it was interesting to do," he said.
Now that Grossman's appearance was already confirmed, fans are wondering if other actors included on the leaked call sheet will also be part of "Freak Show." For instance, Grace Gummer, Meryl Streep's daughter, is listed on the call sheet as Penny the Candy Striper.
"Freak Show" premieres on Oct. 8 at 10 p.m. on FX.