Naomi Grossman is currently playing Pepper on "American Horror Story: Freak Show," and as fans of the FX horror anthology series know, the actress first portrayed the microcephalic character in the second season of the show subtitled "Asylum."
It was mentioned in the second installment of the series that Pepper has a sister, but it was only until the first episode of "Freak Show" when it was revealed that she also has a brother named Salty (Christopher Neiman).
Series co-creator Ryan Murphy explained to Entertainment Weekly last month that "Freak Show" takes place in 1952 - 12 years before the events in "Asylum," so the current season is sort of like what happened to Pepper before she was committed to Briarcliff Manor.
Though that means that Pepper will definitely survive "Freak Show," Grossman teased during a group interview to promote the DVD and Blu-ray releases of "American Horror Story: Coven" that there will be a lot of deaths in the upcoming episodes, Popsugar reported
"I've heard basically from this point on, we go two by two," Grossman said. "There's pretty much two deaths an episode or so, that's the rumor. Again, I'm just glad I'm safe, but we're always wondering who's next?"
When asked about the fate of Pepper's brother Salty, the actress said: "Honestly, Salty isn't in the 'Asylum,' and so he's going to have to go some time, and I would love to kill him. I think Salty is going to present some awesome possible opportunities for Pepper. If Salty has to die, Pepper's going to have some opinion about it, and maybe that's an awesome, emotional freak out scene for me?"
Grossman also teased that Pepper's sister may also be introduced in "Freak Show." In "Asylum," Pepper was convicted of drowning her sister's baby and cutting off his ears. However, the character claimed in the tenth episode of the said season that she was falsely accused with murdering and mutilating her nephew.
At some point during the interview, Grossman also talked about the orgy scene featuring Penny the candy striper (Grace Gummer), and she said that it was a lot more hilarious than it looked.
"I will never forget, we were choreographing that, and I remember [Amazon] Eve's (Erika Ervin) leg up in the air, and her leg is like seven feet long. And one of the little people was swinging around on it, like it was a stripper pole," she recalled. "And I'll never forget hearing Ryan, like, 'Hump the leg! Hump the leg!' And I was like, 'What are we doing? What am I in?'"
In a recent interview with Albuquerque Journal, Grossman said that she is very much grateful for the opportunity to play Pepper once again.
"Pepper is a gift that keeps on giving," Grossman said. "At the end of last season, it was all downhill from there. Then I got pulled back for the show and it's just been amazing."