Taissa Farmiga caught the spotlight during her time on the first season of “American Horror Story”, when she played a troubled teen living in a very haunted house; now, after taking a bit of a break, she’s back for the third installment of the series and says she’s excited to tackle a whole new batch of problems. Because “American Horror Story” is not a continuing storyline–each season has a completely different cast of characters and plot–it wasn’t known after the first run if Farmiga would be back.

Farmiga, who plays a young witch shipped off to a special school in New Orleans, says the character is pretty different from Violet, the role she portrayed in the first season.

“The character is very different. The tone of this season is very different. For me, I’m a little older, a little more mature, I play a character who is in a different stage of her life than Violet was, it’s just different hurdles,” she said.

The 19-year old actress says that creator Ryan Murphy was adamant about this season being as realistic as possible, as a show about witches can become over the top very easily. As for the sudden surge of witch stories to be found on television and in movies recently, Farmiga says there’s just something about the idea of having powers that intrigues everyone.

“There’s something about the supernatural and having powers to make things easier. It’s trying to let your imagination run wild. Being able to move things or read people’s minds, it’s appealing to people, it’s weird and special,” she said.

Taissa’s older sister Vera has some experience in the entertainment business–she’s an Academy Award-nominated actress who starred in “Up In The Air” with George Clooney and can currently be seen on A&E’s “Bates Motel”–and Taissa says she does indeed ask for advice at times.

“She’s always there for me and she’s got so much for experience. It’s so lovely having someone like that there for you. I love watching her on “Bates Motel,” she’s so incredible and I get so inspired,” she said.

“American Horror Story” airs Wednesday nights on FX.

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