Ryan Murphy elborates on American Horror Story season 7’s election theme

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy recently revealed that the upcoming seventh season of the FX horror anthology series would be dealing in some way with the 2016 presidential election. That's really all he said, leaving a lot of questions. Would the show be focusing on the politicians involved? Would Trump and Clinton be characters on the show? Or would it simply be focusing on American citizens who were keeping track of the whole mess?

Murphy has since given out a few more details, answering one specific question while speaking at the Publicists Guild Awards Luncheon, where he was given an award for Television Showmanship of the Year.

The themes of American Horror Story have always been allegories. You will not see Trump and Clinton as characters on the show."

I'm sure that's a relief to some viewers and a disappointment to others. 

Murphy delved further into his ideas for the season during a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter:

… what I'm interested in doing is not just the obvious, single-minded point of view but rather express all sides of that equation. What needs to happen in our country now is for people to listen to each other – we may not always agree with each other and we may be horrified by what the other side is doing but we have to move toward understanding. So that's one example of what I'm going to do. And then all of the stuff that I'm developing now is going to be about illuminating and highlighting people who don't have a voice in our culture — people who are ignored by the current administration and who are afraid and feel terrorized that their lives are going to be taken away. I'm interested not just in writing about those people but also in using my financial means to give back to them as well."

That's still not giving away much, but those are some interesting concepts to work into a horror story. 

American Horror Story veterans Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters are confirmed to be returning for the next season, which begins filming in June. The show is likely to return to FX airwaves in September or October.

Paulson