*Updated as of Aug 1st.
1. American Horror Story Season 8 will be a crossover between two previous seasons: ‘Murder House’ (Season 1) and ‘Coven’ (Season 3)
As you may have already heard, Co-Creator / Executive Producer Ryan Murphy announced via Twitter on Thursday that the long-anticipated Murder House / Coven crossover season would actually be happening THIS season – Season 8, which premieres this September, and not in Season 9 as previously slated.
The tantalizing news of a crossover between fan favorite seasons ‘Murder House’ (2011), about a family living in a haunted home in Los Angeles, and ‘Coven’ (2013), about a school for witches in New Orleans, had first been mentioned by Murphy back in 2016 at Entertainment Weekly’s PopFest. Fans naturally got excited about the idea, but up until this week Murphy had maintained the crossover would only happen later — most likely next year in Season 9, and NOT in Season 8 — so his new update this close to the start of filming is a bit shocking but a welcome surprise. It’s not clear if this shuffle was a planned fake-out, if he changed his mind, or if perhaps cast availability was a deciding factor, but regardless, we can’t wait to watch. Witches rule.
2. Season 8 will feature a mix of returning and new cast, lots of “fan favorites.”
Confirmed cast so far include Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters who were featured in both Murder House and in Coven, and Kathy Bates, who won an Emmy for her role as Delphine LaLaurie in Coven.
Other returning cast to the series include Cheyenne Jackson; Billy Eichner; Adina Porter and Leslie Grossman. New cast members include Joan Collins, and as of April, Ryan Murphy had stated he was “interested” in casting Anjelica Huston. Murphy had also previously mentioned the possibility that there would be “three non-white leads,” however that has not been confirmed.
It will be interesting to see if any other prominent cast members from ‘Murder House’ and ‘Coven’ will return, including the indelible Jessica Lange, who was nominated and won multiple awards for her previous work on the series. Murphy recently told EW “You will see so many fan favorites return that you’ll feel like it’s ‘The Love Boat.’”
Well, let’s all grab our life preservers, shall we?
**UPDATE ( 6/18/18) — Over the weekend while promoting Ryan Murphy’s newest FX show, Pose, Sarah Paulson, Ryan Murphy and Emma Roberts all shared some tweets/posts (some of which Murphy has since deleted…) revealing some major news about the cast/plot:
Surprise, bitch. So basically Sarah Paulson will be playing her previous ‘Coven’ character Cordelia, Emma Roberts is returning as her ‘Coven’ character, Madison, and ALL of the witches from ‘Coven’ “have been asked back.” (Please come back Jessica Lange!). In addition, it appears there is another ‘Supreme’ coming for Cordelia as part of the new plotline.
Rumor (unconfirmed) has it that Frances Conroy will also be back in Coven character, and possibly Lady Gaga – perhaps as a revisit to her “Lady of the Woods” character from AHS: Roanoke, whom Murphy had previously described as ‘the original Supreme.’
Yas, witches. #WitchesRule
UPDATE** (7/13) A leaked photo from the set appeared online on July 13th which seems to confirm two additional cast members, UnReal star Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Kyle Allen of The Path.
3. Joan Collins might play Evan Peters’ Grandmother.
Just a few weeks ago Murphy told EW that not only would Joan Collins play Evan Peters’ grandmother, he also stated that Evan Peters would play a hairdresser. It’s not clear whether this bit of information is still true considering it was delivered during a time when Murphy was still saying the crossover would only happen in Season 9. So if you’re expecting Peters to return as his character Tate from ‘Murder House’… well, that possibility is still… unclear. As the Magic 8 Ball says, ask again later…
4. Season 8 may or may not be set in the future, it’s likely to be a very strange, twisty season, and we should maybe keep a look out for a big twist in Episode 5.
Sure, every season of AHS has ended up being strange and twisty, but Murphy told EW that Season 8 is “…Very high concept. It’s a season unlike anything we’ve done because there’s a big hook to it. There’s a huge thing that happens in Episode 5.”
In April he told The Hollywood Reporter during an Emmy panel, “It’s not necessarily as real and grounded as the past season. We’re sort of getting back to Asylum and Coven. That’s the tone of it.” He also teased that the season was set in the “near future” of approximately 18 months away (which would be October, 2019 if accurate), adding that it’s “a projection story.” Of course, this is all a bit up in the air now because it’s unclear if he was referring to a different, now-scrapped concept for Season 8, or the previously-slated-for-2019 Murder House / Coven season.
5. An as of now unverifiable rumor includes the possibility that this season is going to be called ‘American Horror Story: Radioactive‘.
Ryan Murphy has remained tight-lipped when questioned about it, and again, any mention of this possible title/theme came before the recent crossover announcement.
***UPDATE: We now know the theme and title for this season will be AHS: APOCALYPSE
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlceA_An5T4/?taken-by=ahsfx
With the artwork for the new season hearkening back to Season 1: ‘Murder House’, it’s no surprise that we have now ALSO learned that the character of Michael Langdon will be featured in the upcoming season as an adult/teen? played by actor Cody Fern.
As you may recall, Michael Langdon was one of the twin babies born to Connie Britton’s Vivian Harmon character after being raped by a rubber-suit-wearing Tate. Though one of the babies died, the other, Michael, was adopted by Constance (Jessica Lange) after the the entire Harmon family died. Medium Billie Dean Howard (Sarah Paulson) declared the boy to be the harbinger of end times and the closing scene of the season is Constance coming home to discover the child has killed his nanny…
6. Both Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters will have their directorial debut this season, in addition to appearing on the show. Filming is set to start soon and the season will premiere in September on FX.
Be sure to tune in to American Horror Story: Apocalypse and, as the one true ‘Supreme’ Fiona would say:
ScarePop 