Who did Ariana Grande play in Scream Queens? Singer's character and death in the show explored

While Ariana Grande's career as a singer-songwriter has given her immense success - with seven studio albums - she has also dabbled in acting gigs occasionally.

Be it her debut role as Cat Valentine in Nickelodeon's Victorious or her cameo appearance in the Leonardo DiCaprio starrer 2021 movie, Don't Look Up, Ari has always enjoyed working as an actress.

In 2015, the Positions singer was cast in yet another TV series - a black comedy slasher created by Ryan Murphy, called Scream Queens. Ariana Grande played the character of Sonya Herfmann - or Chanel #2 - in the series, which, according to Screen Rant, is a combination of Mean Girls and Scream.

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Ariana Grande played Sonya Herfmann in Scream Queens

The first season of Scream Queens aired on Fox in September 2015 and returned for a second season in December 2016. However, in 2017, Fox announced that the show's third season was canceled.

Although Scream Queens season 1 had 13 episodes, Ariana Grande's journey was quite brief. Playing a key supporting role in the season, she played Sonya Herfmann, a member of the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority and second in command of queen bee Chanel Oberlin (played by Emma Roberts), who doesn't bother to know the name of her so-called "minions," and calls her Chanel #2 instead.

In the pilot episode, Chanel ends up killing her housekeeper accidentally and gets her three minions, including Herfmann, to help her get rid of the dead body. Oberlin assembles all three of them to take a blood oath as a sign of solidarity among them to make sure the secret of the dead housekeeper doesn't escape outside.

Mid-ritual, Herfmann freaks out about both the oath as well as keeping such a big secret, decides that she wants out and returns to her room to pack her things up and leave. Amidst packing, she hears a knock on the door and is faced by the Red Devil as she opens it.

The devil attacks her, stabbing her twice and ends up killing her but not before she uploads a tweet about asking for help and mentioning the Red Devil trying to kill her.

After the death of her character, Grande sticks around on the show for a few more episodes as Oberlin as the other two Chanels find a way to dispose of her body safely, eventually throwing her an open-casked funeral. Chanel is also visited by Herfmann's spirit in her dream one night, where she reveals that Hell sucks and apologizes for the times the two fought when she was alive.

Meeting Herfmann in her dream inspires Oberlin to be a better leader, although it doesn't do much to make her nicer.

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Ryan Murphy revealed that Ariana Grande was "obsessed" with American Horror Story

Just before Scream Queens' release, Ryan Murphy - the producer of the show as well as the American Horror Story - was interviewed by E! News in September 2015.

When asked about how he pitched the character of Sonya Herfmann to Ariana Grande, the director said:

"Actually the truth is [Ariana] was ust obsessed with American Horror Story, like she was obsessed, so I think she just met me to ask questions about the new season to be honest! I really do."

Murphy responded when asked if he had revealed the details of the plot - and of her character's death - to the Side to Side singer initially:

"I didn't tell her a damn thing! She was mad about it later. So we started talking about that and I said, ‘Hey, I have this new thing that I'd love for you to be a part of. It's sort of American Horror Story-esque, but it's a little bit with a wink and a nod.' And I told her what it was, and she was instantly on board."

Screams Queens is one of the shorter acting gigs Ariana Grande has worked in throughout her career, unlike her upcoming movie, Wicked, where her role is at the core of the story, alongside Cynthia Erivo.

Ari plays Glinda, the good witch in the fantasy musical, which is set to release on November 22, 2024, around Thanksgiving.