For most of the months between seasons of American Horror Story, co-creator Ryan Murphy and the various regulars from his acting stable are almost always plagued by questions regarding the next big theme and story. This year, that line of questioning is a tad stranger than normal, since it's already been revealed that the 2016 Presidential election will be a driving force in Season 7. While there were rumors that viewers might get to see AHS representations of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Murphy has cleared things up on that front.
We don't have actors playing them. You'll see them on television. The first 10 minutes of the season, this season, takes place in a very eerie macabre way on election night and there's something terrible that happens in the lives of our characters on election night as they're watching it all go down. Which in itself was a horror story, so it's like a horror story upon a horror story.
Finally, some clarity! Not that the confusion wrapped up in American Horror Story's election storyline was as dense as everything that happened after the actual election, but it's good that Ryan Murphy offered a clear-as-can-be explanation for how Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will figure into the season premiere. Of course, he might have been looking out for himself there rather than giving fans something to gnaw on, since he probably doesn't want to spend the next 4-5 months fielding and dodging questions about Trump and Clinton's potential presences.
So this horror story, wrapped inside of an enigma wrapped inside of an electoral college, will focus its very first minutes on actual election coverage, which is a pretty interesting way to kick off any story, and especially one within the American Horror Story universe. I can't imagine it would have been easy to watch actors dressing up as the politicians, which could have easily come off looking like one of SNL's cold opens. Although we did just see Dana Carvey's Trump impression, so that could have been a WTF cameo.
When the election theme was first announced, there were rumors that surfaced pegging Kathy Bates for a role as Trump, similar to how Melissa McCarthy portrayed Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live. And, of course, people asked about series starlet Sarah Paulson playing the former First Lady. But it looks like both Trump and Clinton will be playing themselves on American Horror Story, which is fitting, really.
While he didn't offer any ideas for casting picks in American Horror Story Season 7, Ryan Murphy did tell E! that he and Feud star Susan Sarandon are talking about doing another show together. I don't think I'd be alone in welcoming the iconic actress into the Coven for the upcoming crossover season. Or anything else.
We're still not sure when American Horror Story Season 7 will bring its calamities to the subject of politics, but it'll likely get to FX in September. Until then, check out everything we know about it, and then learn all the other shows debuting on and returning to the small screen with our midseason premiere schedule and our summer TV guide.
