4 New Scream Queens Details That Will Only Make You More Excited

You know the one. Murphy said that letter got him thinking about sororities and the writer in particular: "We were interested in mirroring that idea," he said. It's pretty evident that it inspired the foundation of Emma Roberts's nasty lead character and sorority president, Chanel. Murphy said that when he and the other producers started to shape Chanel, "our queen bee character," they hoped to "bring some awareness about her." Funny tidbit: heroine Skyler Samuels is a junior in college right now, and she's actually in a sorority. "They've been very supportive," she assured us.

If you can't stomach Murphy's other gore-fest on FX, American Horror Story, don't be afraid of Scream Queens. Murphy noted that the violence is tonally different: "Scream Queens has a much more satirical, cartoonish quality to the attacks than American Horror Story does, which is much more sexualized and darker at times."

We know why Jamie Lee Curtis was cast — "She is the original scream queen," as Ryan Murphy asserted, but we didn't know that the show may not have happened without her. Murphy said that he's a huge fan of hers and has been trying to work with her for years. When Curtis met with him and executive producer Brad Falchuk about potentially starring, Murphy said they told her, "'If you don't do it, we're not going to do the show.'" Murphy said she took a day to think about it, and then said she was in.

Niecy Nash, whom we and everyone else has loved since Reno 911!, not only costars on Scream Queens, she's bringing some of her own comedy and improving where she can. Curtis said that Nash "says what they write and then says much more" — so much so that Curtis has to push a sharp object into her own hand to keep from laughing and ruining the takes.