‘American Horror Story: 13’: Orlando Jones on Honoring Lance Reddick While Making Papa Legba His Own

Stepping into the shoes of Papa Legba is no small task, especially when the role was previously played by the late Lance Reddick in American Horror Story: Coven. But for Orlando Jones, taking over as the mysterious gatekeeper of the underworld in American Horror Story: 13 wasn’t about recreating Reddick’s performance. It was about understanding the complicated history between Papa Legba and the witches, and why their latest encounter is unlike anything they’ve faced before. Warning: Spoilers ahead for American Horror Story: 13 Episode 2, “The Prodigal Son.”

“I’d already seen Apocalypse and Coven, so I didn’t necessarily need to revisit them,” Jones tells TV Insider. “Of course, I go back and look at all the episodes, but I wasn’t really looking for those episodes for Lance so much because I didn’t know how he was going to enter into the world again. So I was really looking to understand the nuances between the witches. And I really wanted to understand exactly what transpired with Michael Langdon, because I feel like so much of that is the subplot underneath what’s happening this season.”

That history becomes especially important in Episode 10, “The Prodigal Son,” when Papa Legba joins forces with Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange), Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett), and the coven to stop the Devil from taking control of Heaven, Hell, and Earth.

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, even Papa Legba finds himself in an unusually precarious position, forcing him to work alongside witches he might not otherwise trust, and vice versa.

“Yes, it puts him in a very delicate and compromised position from the outset,” Jones explains. “I think he is compromised. I think he probably feels a bit… vulnerable, which I think is unusual for him. And I think because he knows what is going to happen, in the sense that he’s aware of the bet between God and the devil, there’s a sense of urgency for them to unite.”

Of course, getting Papa Legba and the witches to cooperate is easier said than done. After all, their relationship has always involved a fair amount of suspicion, bargaining, and supernatural trickery.

“Anytime you have to negotiate with someone you don’t like, I imagine it like an ex-wife and an ex-husband having to negotiate with one another,” laughs Jones. “It’s always a little tricky, those negotiations. So, though they aren’t exes, I think they have a sense that the other can be an ally, but the other also can be a thorn in one’s side.”

But Jones also sees something almost playful in Papa Legba’s relationship with the witches, particularly when the fate of humanity isn’t hanging in the balance.

“I also think there’s an affinity that they have for one another, primarily because I asked the core question of: What does Papa Legba do all day? And I think all he generally does is oversee the passing of souls, one going up and one going down, and what he does for entertainment is kibitz back and forth, trickster games with the witches and other folk,” explains Jones.

Unfortunately, Papa’s reputation for mischief makes it difficult to convince Marie that this time, he’s not playing around.

“I think, for Marie in particular, this is a different setup, because he needs Marie to listen to him. And Marie doesn’t understand the dangers that are headed her way. And she traditionally… behaves with him, like, oh, sure, Papa, because she thinks he’s up to something, of course, because he’s a trickster,” the actor continues.

“In this case, he’s not being a trickster. In this case, he really is telling them the threat is imminent. And I think it’s the boy who cried wolf, right? He plays his games as a trickster, playing ‘Crying Wolf’ all the time for his own amusement,” Jones says. “Now he’s ‘Crying Wolf,’ and they’re going, ‘Oh, really?’ And he’s like, yes, yes, it’s happening now, yes! So, I think that tenor in their relationship is new, different, and maybe a bit exciting, but also a little scary.”

That sense of urgency also allowed Jones to approach Papa Legba differently from Reddick, whose understated performance left a lasting impression on the actor.

“I knew I’m not Lance, so there was no possibility that I was gonna mimic him. And I didn’t want to, and also, they weren’t asking me to, so there was really no reason for me to do that. But his performance, it’s so beautiful to me because it’s so still. And I just, I love the power of it, I love the stillness of it,” Jones says.

However, the Papa Legba Jones encountered on the page was anything but calm.

“It always resonated with me. And when I read the new pages, I was like, oh, wow, okay, Papa’s pissed off, he ain’t gonna be still. He’s gonna be agitated, and guttural, and, you know, fit to be tied by virtue of the silly arguments that they’re having while the world hangs in the balance,” shares Jones.

For Jones, that difference is what makes his Papa Legba his own. The supernatural trickster who once had the upper hand in his dealings with the witches now finds himself desperately trying to convince them that the danger is real. And with Satan’s plans already underway, there may not be much time left for games.

American Horror Story: 13, Thursdays, 9/8c, FX and Hulu