American Horror Story: Cult's biggest plot twist may have already happened.
According to a new interview with executive producer Alexis Martin Woodall, the upcoming season of FX's anthology series may not be about the 2016 presidential election at all. Or at least not in the way some fans expected.
Though creator Ryan Murphy has stated that the seventh installment of the horror show will begin the night America elected former Celebrity Apprentice host Donald Trump as President, that doesn't mean the show will be entirely focused on all things political. Instead, Woodall told the audience at the Television Critics Association press tour that the election and its aftermath will merely ground the show in our reality.
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"When Ryan had to make the announcement originally that the season was going to deal with Trump, I think it’s more about what’s going on in our world around us," explained the producer.
However, she stayed mum about what that exactly means, leaving the upcoming season's plot a mystery for our benefit.
"[It’s] not what you think it is, and I’m not trying to be cagey, it’s just with all good horror and suspense not knowing is going to be good for you," Woodall told the TCA audience.
The comments reiterate what Murphy has teased about the new season. The showrunner told the audience at the ICG Publicists Awards Luncheon that he wouldn't be casting any actors as Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
"I said that American Horror Story’s season 7 was going to be about the election. Now did I mean this literally? No," Murphy explained at the event, per People. "The themes of American Horror Story have always been allegory. We’ll not see Trump or Clinton as characters on the show."
What we will see? A whole bunch of clowns, lots and lots of bee imagery, and Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson once again portraying love interests. (Characters based on Trump and Clinton, meanwhile, will always have a place on Saturday Night Live.)
All in all, maybe the election-as-a-metaphor thing is the way to go: I'll take all the scary clowns in the world if it means not having to live through a nail-biting election night all over again.