After previously offering fans a thematic teaser video that hinted at fan-favorite characters and settings returning, American Horror Stories is finally showcasing itself in full glory with the brand new trailer seen above. Considering we're only a week out from release, it's wild to only now have any clear idea of what the new anthologized spinoff will deliver, but I will 100% sign for that delivery and then some. As cool as it would have been if the trailer was twice as long, there's more than enough to keep fans sated while still leaving them hungry for more.
Right away, the trailer provides further visual proof that at least one American Horror Stories episode will take place in the famed Murder House setting first introduced in Season 1, and then revisited in later seasons. While there's no sign of Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton's Ben and Vivien Harmon, we do see a new batch of characters being harassed by the infamous Rubber Suit...Person. (It's unclear who will be donning that costume this time around, with a female form promoted in the previous teaser.)
Perhaps most importantly for my own tastes, the American Horror Story trailer also features the long-awaited return of the franchise's freakiest little monster, the Infantata! Let him rise again!
Assuming this isn't just stock footage being reused from a previous appearance, the late actor Ben Woolf won't be handling the Infatata performance this time around. But it's still awesome all the same, and I'm hoping it means we'll also see the returns of Matt Ross' Dr. Charles Montgomery and Lily Rabe's Nora Montgomery.
Some familiar faces that DO show up in the trailer include John Carroll Lynch, though seemingly not as either Freak Show's Twisty the Clown or 1984's Mr. Jingles. As well, we see multi-season vets Billie Lourd and Matt Bomer in varying capacities, with one early Lourd moment making it look like there might be some Coven-level magic on the way. And while American Horror Story: Roanoke is arguably the least-appreciated season of the nine released so far, let's all put our hooves together for the return of Piggy Man!
Though he's not an American Horror Story vet, motherfucking Danny Trejo is on board as a murderous Santa Claus, so we might as well start theorizing that his Christmas mascot is connected to the drunken Santa that Ian McShane brought to the table back in Season 2. Here's hoping this means we'll see way more Danny Trejo in this franchise's future, too.
American Horror Stories is set to debut with back-to-back episodes on FX on Hulu on Thursday, July 15, so gather all your best and slimiest S&M gear and hunker down. Those who want something a little less horrifying can surely find something among the other 2021 Summer TV releases.
