The Chemist is a vital character in American Horror Story: Red Tide. In AHS 10, The Chemist plays a vital role in the story, being the provider of the mysterious pills that grant users inspiration. The actress who plays her may look familiar to fans since she's appeared in the anthology series previously.
AHS: Red Tide follows struggling writer Harry (Finn Wittrock), his pregnant wife, Doris (Lily Rabe), and their young daughter, Alma. The family moves to a small seaside town so Harry can find inspiration for his next project. But once they get settled, they start to notice pale and inhuman creatures roaming about the area. Harry becomes wrapped up in the mystery surrounding the town and learns that they, and others hiding in plain sight, are vampires.
The vampires from the town are created by taking a drug known as the Black Pill that is meant to elevate talent. Those who take it with some kind of existing talent become extraordinary, and those without any become a Pale Person. Regardless of which result the user experiences, a side effect is that they crave blood. The Chemist, played by Angelica Ross, is the original creator of those pills. Ross previously appeared in TV series like Her Story, Claws and Pose; however, AHS fans might recognize her as Nurse Rita, Aka Donna Chambers, from AHS: 1984.
Donna Chambers was Ross's debut in the franchise. Donna learned her father was a serial killer, which prompted her to study them in an asylum. She became so obsessed with the subject that she let Mr. Jingles, an infamous serial killer in the AHS universe, escape so she could study him in his natural habitat. As 1984's Camp Redwood was infamous for its previous entanglements with serial killers, she stole the identity of Nurse Rita so she could work at the camp and study them first hand. Ross's role in Red Tide is increasingly more sinister than Donna Chambers. The Chemist is cold and uncaring. She is fully responsible for everything happening in the town, but it doesn't affect her. In fact, she regularly profits from the people who take the Black Pill.
Ross's return to the AHS universe signifies that big things are in her future. AHS is known for rotating through the same cast for each season. But as the show continues on, the Ryan Murphy series understandably needs to continue to add more performers to its constantly rotating repertoire. In a sense, AHS: 1984 can be considered Ross's audition for Murphy's fictional universe. The fact that she was welcomed back for the tenth season of the horror anthology series proves that she passed the test. At the time of writing this article, The Chemist has only been in one episode of AHS: Red Tide so far. But given the story of this season, she is an incredibly important character. Murphy wouldn't give that part to just anyone, so fans should expect to see Angelica Ross after American Horror Story: Red Tide.