Their names may not be in the title, but at this point hearing that Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters are coming back for another season of the FX anthology series American Horror Story is about as surprising as it would be if the show was called The Paulson and Peters Hour. Paulson was confirmed to be returning for the eighth season of the series back in January, and it has since been confirmed that Peters is back as well.
A third returning cast member has also been confirmed, and this one is a bit more of a special case. Kathy Bates, who played roles in American Horror Story's third through sixth seasons, will be back for season eight.
Bates skipped season seven because she was busy with the Netflix comedy series Disjointed. With Disjointed having been cancelled, Bates is now able to get back to the horror.
American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy said,
Kathy and Sarah Paulson have a lot of great stuff to get to do. So, with Evan Peters, the three of them are the leads this year."
Murphy has previously revealed that the new season is
set in the near future. It has nothing to do with anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s really chilling."
Fans recently unearthed the fact that FX has registered the title American Horror Story: Radioactive, leading to speculation that Radioactive is the title of the new season, and it might be set in a post-apocalyptic future where the bombs have been dropped. When asked about that, Murphy responded,
I heard about that rumor. Well, that’s based on a fact that we’ve cleared a lot of titles for that show. It’s an interesting idea. I can neither confirm nor deny."
Whatever it's about, the new season is set to begin filming this summer and is expected to be airing on FX this fall.