American Horror Story closed out this year's PaleyFest, and naturally showrunner Ryan Murphy couldn't help but drop some choice nuggets of information concerning the next season. While the theme hasn't been officially announced yet, Murphy said that "the interesting thing about the next season is that we’ve been working on two ideas at once, which we’ve never done."
I don't know what he's basing that claim on, because Asylum and Hotel seemed to have a dozen clashing ideas apiece, but he's probably referring to the previous announcement that the season will be "set in two time periods — in the present with echoes of the past.”
He went on to say that an idea that they have been toying with involves “the opera," and followed up by saying that horror "often deals with the innocence of children, and their wide-eyed way into it. Both ideas we’re working with have elements of children." I'm thinking ALICE IN WONDERLAND meets PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which could be interesting, but this season really needs to pull out all the stops to make up for their recent slump in cohesion, which made many viewers give up on the scatterbrained Hotel before its finale.
One thing that we do know for certain is some of the cast. During the discussion, Murphy announced that previous AHS ensemble players Kathy Bates, Denis O’Hare, Angela Bassett, Sarah Paulson, Finn Wittrock, Wes Bentley, Cheyenne Jackson, and Matt Bomer would all be returning for the next season, which is definitely something we can work with. More on this season as it develops!