‘Scream Queens’ Star Kirstie Alley Recalls The Time Ryan Murphy Offered Her The Role Of Nurse Hoffel

Kirstie Alley revealed that she skipped a family reunion to get the role of Nurse Hoffel in Season 2 of “Scream Queens.”

During her recent appearance on NBC’s “Today,” Alley said that series creator Ryan Murphy offered her the role last summer just a few days after her planned reunion with family members in Maine. “Ryan Murphy called me when I was in Maine, and I’d thrown my back out, but I didn’t say, ‘Ryan, I can't walk!’” the 66-year-old actress shared on the morning show. “So he called and said, ‘We want you to be on the show this season, this is the character,’ and I go, ‘I'm definitely in.’ But I was having a family reunion the next day, with 25 people, and he said, ‘You need to be here Monday.’ This was Thursday or Friday, I don’t remember, so my family had a reunion without me!”

Apparently, Alley doesn’t regret ditching her family get-together for the role. “I had the best time; it was really one of the best times in my career,” the Golden Globe-winning actress said of her experience filming the comedy-horror series. “Everyone was so funny, and I fell in love with Taylor Lautner (Cassidy on the series) as my … son not as my love interest. [After meeting him on set,] I instantly went, ‘Oh my God you have to be my other son.’”

Alley said that the show’s original members made her feel at home right off the bat. “You know when you go to somebody else’s set, you’re very intimidated, but they just met me with open arms,” the “Cheers” alum said of her “Scream Queens” co-stars.

“Jamie Lee Curtis (Dean Munsch) gives out more presents that any persons you’ve ever seen,” Alley added. “The first thing she gave me was a bandolier ‘cause I always lose my phone, and it was red and it had ‘Scream Queens’ written on it. … Jamie Lee is great, and you know [also] the Chanels, Emma Roberts (Chanel), Billie Lourd (Chanel #3) and Abigail Breslin (Chanel #5)."

Despite the warm welcome she got from the cast, Alley admitted on Twitter that she still had some serious jitters on her first day of filming. In a follow-up post, she compared her nervousness to the usual first-day jitters that students usually experience. Read her tweets below:

In the Season 2 finale of “Scream Queens,” Nurse Hoffel’s plan to blow up C.U.R.E. Institute was thwarted by Denise (Niecy Nash). She tried to get away from the crimes she committed, but she stumbled into a pond of quicksand where she was left to die.

Despite “Scream Queens’” low Season 2 ratings, FOX entertainment president David Madden said at FOX’s Television Critics Association session on Wednesday that the show is “very much still in consideration for a renewal.”