A truly horrific turn of events: Is American Horror Story ending after next season? It’s definitely a possibility, creator Ryan Murphy revealed in a new interview following the Wednesday, November 13, the finale of season 9, AHS: 1984.
“We’re working on an idea for season 10 that I think people will love because it’s about reuniting fan-favorite actors to come back — because it might be our last season,” the six-time Emmy winner, 54, told Deadline. “It’s the last season we have contracted. So, I’ve been quietly reaching out to various people. Some people I haven’t reached out to yet because I was like ‘Do I have a role for them?’ So far, everybody I reached out to said ‘Yes,’ so that’s been great.”
As for whether that means Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson or Kathy Bates will return, the producer is keeping that a secret — for now.
“Too soon to tell, but I’ll just sort of say, the people who helped build this show into what it is, who believed in it from the beginning, have been contacted and are interested,” the Nip/Tuck creator teased. “So if you look at the iconography of the first three seasons, you can figure [out] who I’ve gone to and who might be coming back. … I’m excited about season 10 like I was excited about this year. I worked really hard on it. It was deeply embedded in my childhood and in Brad [Falchuck]‘s.”
Murphy also shed light on the possible theme — although many ideas are still floating around.
“I already came up with an idea for season 10,” he said. “We flirted with aliens, we flirted with space, we flirted with some things that were more interesting than others. I think that at the heart of it, it’s always about Americana. … It’s always a mysterious process of how I come up with the idea. I really don’t even understand it. I have a list of finalists on a piece of paper and I work on all of them. It’s just where is my life when I’m working on them.”
However, the American Crime Story producer isn’t completely ready to part ways with the horror hit, and he says FX Chairman John Landgraf isn’t either.
“He would obviously like to keep it going, and I’d like to keep it going. We’re in the middle of negotiations about beyond season 10,” the writer revealed. “We have had conversations about the show going 20 seasons. If John for some reason said, ‘We don’t want to make this anymore,’ would I call up Netflix? Yes.”
He added: “But he’s only ever expressed love and enthusiasm and he wants to keep it going. We’re both very proud of it. I have every good intention of it staying there and I think he does too. We’re talking about it. We’re trying to figure it out.”
