The third season of American Horror Story is about to become even more dependent on strong female actresses, with Angela Bassett and Patti LuPone now in the mix.

Creator Ryan Murphy tweeted the news of Bassett and LuPone's casting on Sunday morning, calling them "two legends." This comes only a few weeks after he tweeted that Gabourey Sidibe, the Oscar-nominated star of Precious would be joining the cast.

Famous for her roles as Tina Turner and Rosa Parks, Bassett is an Academy and Emmy Award-nominated actress who recently appeared as a Secret Service agent in box-office-hit Olympus Has Fallen. LuPone is a theater legend whose work in 2008 in Gypsy earned her one of her two Tony Awards. Both actresses have impressive pedigrees in acting that only serve to give American Horror Story more clout.

Along with these actresses, Oscar-winner Kathy Bates is expected to square off against series regular Jessica Lange in the third season, according to Murphy. Joining Lange in the returning repertoire of actors will be Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Frances Conroy, Taissa Farmiga and Lily Rabe.

Since American Horror Story is an anthology series, the location and characters for the third season will be completely different from the haunted house featured in the first and the asylum featured in the second. Though Murphy had been keeping details hush-hush, Frances Conroy stated in an interview in March that the third season would be taking place in New Orleans. Soon after, Murphy announced that the season would be called American Horror Story: Coven, and would revolve around witchcraft and voodoo magic. He also said that the third season would be "'more historical in nature' and take place in modern day."

American Horror Story: Coven is set to premiere on FX in October of 2013 and conclude in January of 2014.

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American Horror Story, Angela Bassett