Grotesquerie fans have Micaela Diamond to thank for one of the steamiest onscreen moments (so far) between her and costar Nicholas Chavez.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Diamond, 25, opened up about the overwhelming response to Sister Megan and Father Charlie’s sex scene.
“Nicholas is really having a moment right now, so [our scenes are] popping off in a way we didn’t expect, which I think is for the best,” she told Us. “No one films a sex scene and wants to think the whole time, ‘Oh, this is going to be made into a montage [by fans on social media].”
In Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie, Sister Megan (Diamond) and Father Charlie (Chavez) are love interests who bonded over their commitment to religion and interest in true crime. Before they gave into temptation, Charlie showed Megan how he whipped himself as a form of self-punishment for his impure thoughts. Megan took it a step further by spitting on his wounds — and rubbing it in.
“When I improvised the spit that day in episode 3, I didn’t think it would be on [popular social media accounts such as] Diet Prada. But here we are. Things happen,” she explained. “It was so fun to do. So much of TV for me is the moment of creation. It has to be because everything else is out of your control.”
Diamond continued: “We had so much fun on those days. I’m so glad people are loving it. I’m so glad [Nicholas is] having such a huge moment and it’s fun to almost be a part of his before.”
The hit FX series, which premiered in September, initially followed Sister Megan as she worked with a detective named Lois (Niecy Nash) to capture the perpetrator behind a series of heinous crimes in their community. More than halfway through the season, viewers learned that everything that came before was a dream — Lois was actually in a coma the entire time.
“It’s really fun to watch why Lois manifested each character the way she did. I loved that. I loved reading it when I got the script,” Diamond explained. “I loved watching [the show explain] why Father Charlie and Sister Megan were tangled up in her dream because they were taking her job and her life in a way. I like the idea of going into your dreams and figuring out what means what. That’s really interesting and satisfying — and there will be more of that.”
While Diamond couldn’t confirm whether or not Megan and Charlie would cross paths in real life, she teased what fans can expect from the upcoming finale.
“I will say there’s going to be a lot of blood and similarities,” she told Us about the last episode of the season, which airs Wednesday, October 30. “I hope that people will go back and want to rewatch [episodes] 1 through 7 to see the real shot-by-shot comparison that we did in some of these scenes. I think it will be remarkably satisfying.”
Grotesquerie’s season finale will also deliver some answers — and lots of Easter eggs.
“I’m thinking of episode 3 when we have a will they [or] won’t they scene with Nicholas,” Diamond noted. “That scene can be interpreted many ways.It could possibly be a version of cosplay — in a way — that she comes to him all the time with papers and that’s the way they get off on each other. It’s kind of her finding the loophole of doing good work for her boss.”
Diamond was thrilled with how the show ultimately came together, adding, “The script really did a lot of that work for me. Of course there’s little things like I have a bruise in episode 2 that kind of foreshadows the abuse in my life that Lois knows about.”
“Even though I’ve desperately tried to keep this secret with big sunglasses,” she continued. “There’s also the way the color of my socks are different for various moments. There’s tiny things that kind of pin to a bigger idea that this is a dream. We’re in a heightened place.”
Grotesquerie airs on FX Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream on Hulu the next day.