American Horror Story has given horror fans ten seasons of thrills and chills. As the horror audience is fickle and wide-ranging, almost every season has been met with fanatics and critics. The most recent season was no different. As it was split into two separate plot lines, hinted at by the name Double Feature, audiences seemed to love the first half known as Red Tide, but something about the alien storyline of Death Valley left fans wanting more.

Despite feelings of past seasons, audiences are sure to tune into season 11 as the anthology genre allows each season to be a refresh and rebirth with endless possibilities. The show’s creators, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, are well-known innovators who keep fans guessing and never fail to shock us. FX chairman John Landgraf once said of the two, “Ryan and Brad are the undisputed masters of horror TV, having created the anthological limited series with American Horror Story and sustaining its success for nearly a decade as FX’s highest-rated series.”

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But with all that being said, what can we expect from season 11, which is still very much shrouded in mystery?

Season 11: Rumored Themes

     FX

Past seasons of AHS have always had a clue buried within an episode as to the next season’s theme. This has often led to wild speculation every time a new season is set to launch. Unfortunately, the most recent season being a Double Feature with two separate storylines, the possibilities of where a hint for season 11 was dropped are endless.

Series creator Ryan Murphy has always been very tight-lipped when it comes to details about the upcoming season. However, he broke the mold this time with a tweet. Murphy tweeted a poll almost a year ago asking fans what they wanted the new season to be about. The poll included choices like Christmas Horror, Bloody Mary, Piggy Man, Sirens, and Plague. Unfortunately, Murphy sneakily deleted the poll before anyone could see the final results. Furthermore, it is not clear if the poll was meant to be on the topic of AHS season 11 or the newer Hulu spinoff project American Horror Stories. And, of course, there is always the possibility that Murphy was just trolling us all to throw us off the scent of the true theme.

One of the teased themes in the poll was Christmas Horror. Others have speculated that this could definitely be a possible theme for the new season as it has been touched on in previous seasons. As AHS fans know, while the show tells a different story every season, all the stories interweave as a part of one mythology, or AHS Universe as some call it. In the season entitled Asylum, there was a subplot of an inmate of the Briarcliff Insane Asylum who was a Santa-clad serial killer. Seeing as the trope has already been introduced, it is ripe for the picking for a future season of the show.

While rumor and speculation abound, there is one thing we do know for sure. Season 11 will not follow suit of season 10, being split into two separate plots. The new season will be one complete story. FX chairman John Landgraf has said:

Season 11: Potenial Cast

     20th Television

Original fans of AHS surely want to see the OG Supreme cast member Jessica Lange return; however, that does not seem likely. Lange has made it clear that she wants others to use the platform to thrive, and she has not been a season regular since Freak Show. Her one more recent appearance on the show was to reprise her original role as Constance Langdon in a two-episode stint in Apocalypse.

One of the other standout favorites of the cast is Sarah Paulson. She has been in nine of the ten seasons of AHS thus far, and she seems to have grown a close attachment to Ryan Murphy as she has had leading roles in many of his other projects like Feud and American Crime Story. Paulson has publicly stated that season 10 may have been her last. However, she has apparently said that before, leaving her status on the show unknown for now. While on Watch What Happens Live, Paulson said:

Taissa Farmiga, another AHS original cast member, has also hinted at a possibility of returning to the show, or at least that she has a desire to. She played a series regular in some of the most popular seasons, such as Murder House, Coven, and Apocalypse. Farmiga told Digital Spy:

It is quite possible, if not probable, that newer series regulars and fan favorites will return. Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman, and Cody Fern have all appeared in multiple seasons. Finn Wittrock is the only recent season regular who is likely not to return for season 11. He is currently playing the title role of the highly anticipated Green Lantern series on HBO.

Season 11: Expected Release Date

AHS has consistently aired every fall for the first nine years of its run, perfectly timed to coincide with Halloween. However, the pandemic shook things up for a year. The show did not air at all in 2020, most likely because the show could not be filmed during the nationwide shutdown. Double Feature, the most recent season, aired in early fall of 2021.

As things seem to be returning to normal, it is assumed that the newest season will premiere in September or October of 2022. Furthermore, since FX has given the green light for the show for at least two more seasons after that, as long as no massive world shakeups arise, we can probably expect seasons 12 and 13 to air in the fall of 2023 and 2024, respectively.