AHS 13: Joey Pollari on surprise romance and those deaths

The character, one of the few new faces on the milestone 13th installment of the FX anthology series, was introduced as a worried hospice caregiver who had miraculously survived a tragic plane crash and suffered from a severe fear of the No.

Before Episode 10, the viewers learned that Ben was the son of Satan (Paul Anthony Kelly), to be the ruler of the Earth if the devil fulfills a promise with God that he will make his human form last until 100 years old. But despite finding his destiny attractive, Ben wasn’t entirely on board to rule the world as an evil overlord.

“When I finally got the scripts, it was a big surprise … I don’t think I said I knew him, but I thought, ‘Oh, this makes total sense,’ and how perfect this kind of everyday anxious character could be invited to a much darker table,” Pollari told TheWrap about the truth behind his mysterious character.

And the twists continued to come with new events on Thursday, in which Ben appeared at Miss Robichaux not to fight the “Coven” witches who were ready to defeat the devil – but to help them stop his father’s plans. After half-accepting the praise of his father and his own satanic offspring, Ben developed incredible powers, and planned to use them to take him down.

That included reuniting the witches with a few of their friends trapped in hell, including Queenie (Gaborey Sidibe) and Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy). And after sharing scenes with “AHS” legends like Lange, Sarah Paulson and Angela Bassett, Conroy held a special significance for the actor.

“I grew up watching ‘Six Feet Under.’ It was my favorite show. I made the finals as a teenager. So when I met Francis, I was coming with a lot of adoration, and we had a day together in which she was so bright and so generous,” said Pollari. “Watching her work is like watching a great dancer. She came to the table with a lot of ideas, and I sat there while she was rehearsing, and she leaned close to the person next to me and said, ‘This is a great gift we’re getting.’ “

As if there wasn’t enough going on with “AHS 13,” this batch of episodes went full rom-com after Ben meets the witch Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), starting a sweet love story between the demonic warlock and the witch of choice.

In Episode 11 Madison and Ben embarked on an epic love story, including magical dinners in Europe and promises of undying love. It was a perfect conclusion to the story of the witch first introduced in “Coven.”

“It’s so perfect that Madison would fall in love with the son of Satan. A perfect answer to Ben’s anxiety to be with Madison, and a perfect answer for Madison to be with someone who has seen all sides of her life and can relate to her in a way she doesn’t know,” Pollari said. “I had barely met Emma before we started doing these things, and when we left, it was pretty much immediate, which is a real credit to Emma’s talent and who she is. I now call her a very close friend and I love her.”

The events also gave great answers to the “American Horror Story” mythology, revealing that Constance and the “Coven” witch Fiona Goode (Lange) are actually twins separated at birth – and Satan’s daughters were fathered by him as the unwilling sister of Jude (Lange), the character from “Asylum”. They also revealed the key to stopping Satan with a complex spell that made both Cordelia (Paulson) and Queenie go to the lighthouse and made Mr. Nas out of his old age to become an eternal child.

But those plans were quickly put to bed after Ben was knocked out by Satan and Cordelia and Queenie were killed by his henchmen. With only one episode left of “AHS 13,” can there be a happy ending?

“The carpet is being pulled. Hold on tight to whatever ground is beneath you. That’s my word of caution or advice about the finale,” said Pollari.

“American Horror Story: 13” releases new episodes Thursdays on FX and streams the next day on Hulu.