Despite being a key part of American Horror Story's highly successful first season Taissa Farmiga didn't return for Asylum, but why was this the case? On the back of American Horror Story: Murder House's rampant success in 2011, series stars Evan Peters, Dylan McDermott, and Jessica Lange all opted to play brand new characters in the show's second season, subtitled Asylum. Yet despite a stellar turn as the angst-ridden character Violent Harmon, Taissa Farmiga was a notable absentee from American Horror Story: Asylum's cast list.
Farmiga first broke into the business by playing a younger version of Corinne Walker in 2011's Higher Ground, with her older sister, Vera Farmiga, playing the adult version. Not long after, Farmiga then landed her first major acting role in American Horror Story: Murder House, with critics praising her compelling performance as the emotive teen. This praise made Farmiga's omission from American Horror Story season 2 all the more perplexing - although she would go on to return for new roles in both American Horror Story: Coven and American Horror Story: Apocalypse.
Showrunner Ryan Murphy opened up in early 2013 (via Entertainment Weekly) about the fairly simple reason as to why he didn't cast the Murder House star in American Horror Story: Asylum, stating: "There wasn’t really a role for her. I feel very protective of her and I didn’t want her to go back into the loony bin, it was too dark." From this quote is clear Murphy understandably felt the need to shield Farmiga from strenuous roles, given that she was still a teenager at the time of shooting. Murphy also did decide to bring the actress back for American Horror Story: Coven the following year, explaining: "I thought, well, ‘I want Taissa to be one of the leads next year.’ I called her up and pitched her the character for the season and she loved it."
Though the showrunner was justified in his reasons for not bringing Farmiga back for American Horror Story: Asylum, it still would've been interesting to see her play a part in that darker world. After all, the actress had proven herself capable of handling macabre material while playing Violet Harmon in Murder House, having filmed sequences where the character's ghost discovers her own rotting corpse. Nevertheless, Farmiga's Asylum absence inspired the creation of her role in Coven, which may not have come to fruition had she already returned the year prior.
All things considered, Asylum did not suffer due to Farmiga's absence, as backed up by a sweepingly positive critical consensus in 2012 and 2013. Although Farmiga's Violet was undoubtedly one of the highlights of AHS' Murder House, the sweeping changes made in each season of American Horror Story meant there was no guarantee her new character would have the same impact. If Murphy truly didn't have a role for her, perhaps it was best that the Farmiga sat Asylum out rather than being forced into the narrative unnecessarily, as has been the case with many actors in more recent seasons of American Horror Story.