Don’t be surprised if you have not heard of the new FX series “Grotesquerie” launching at 10 p.m. Sept. 25. That’s because the man behind the 10-episode series, Ryan Murphy, went out of his way to keep the project as secret as possible. “I feel so often in the landscape of television now and entertainment, you are told everything about what you’re watching for three, four months. So, by the time you’re watching it, you’re like, you know everything,” Murphy says. “I really kept this under lock and key. We didn’t share the scripts. “There are twists galore every week. And that was important to me. To let people experience the story as it unfolds. I’ve not done that a lot in my career, but this is something I wanted to do.” What Ryan has been keeping secret is a series that deals with a series of heinous crimes that have unsettled a small community. Detective Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts) is certain these crimes are eerily personal as if someone—or something—is taunting her. At home, she is dealing with a strained relationship with her daughter, a husband in long-term hospital care and her own inner demons. With no leads and unsure of where to turn, she accepts the help of Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), a nun and journalist with the Catholic Guardian. As Lois and Sister Megan string together clues, they find themselves ensnared in a sinister web that only seems to raise more questions than answers. One big secret Murphy hid was that he cast former NFL standout Travis Kelce in the series. Kelce told Murphy that he wanted to start an acting career and when Murphy told him he would keep him in mind, Kelce stressed he needed a role immediately. Murphy told him he had a part in “Grotesquerie” that he would rewrite to fit Kelce. No details of who Kelce is playing or what part he has in the series have been revealed. There was no question for Murphy that Nicholas Alexander Chavez would portray Father Charlie in the horror series. He had just starred in Murphy’s production of “Monsters” dealing with the Menendez brothers and went from that production directly to the series. The quick turnaround was OK with Chavez. “Ryan [Murphy] is a world builder and it was interesting because I got to work with him on two very, very different worlds,” Chavez says. “The Menendez project kind of had a  context already set for it telling the story that’s based on true events that happened in 1989 and the early ’90s. “Whereas this project was an entirely new world where the only limitations were our creativity, our imagination. It was interesting to just be thrown into the depths of what Ryan is capable of coming up with. It was an honor and a privilege to experience both.” Murphy reveals that the casting of Emmy Award-nominee Lesley Manville as Nurse Redd gave him the chance to finally work with the British actress. He changed the character to make it more tailored for Manville. Manville was attracted to the series because of the scripts. The added bonus was how much she got to work with Murphy and create her character. She says that is the way the process should always work. “Other than just saying, ‘Here's me, I've got my view and you've just got to be the conduit to make my ideas work,’ he actually made it a collaboration, where I could say what I thought about Redd and where she might go,” Manville adds. “She was pretty much there. She's such an extraordinary character. “I don't want to get out of bed and play the same character every week, every month, every year. I want to play people that are different from the person I've played before and certainly hopefully not like me. And this ticked the box in many, many ways.” The cast of “Grotesquerie” also includes Courtney B. Vance and Raven Goodwin. New episodes will be available on the streaming service of Hulu the day after it debuts on FX. The finale of this season will be broadcast Oct. 30. That fits with Murphy’s interest in scary tales including the numerous scenes of “American Horror Story” and “Scream Queens.” “I would call ‘Grotesquerie’ a horror, thriller, drama in that order. One of the things I also love is it’s following a serial killer, it’s a procedural. It is also about a family,” Murphy says. “I like watching horror because it makes you feel something. It demands that you have a reaction. And most of the time, you do. “We live in a very anxious world, and I think when you’re watching a horror show like ‘Grotesquerie,’ you can put all of the anxieties you’re feeling into a box. You can kind of deal with them in that way.”