American Horror Story Renewed For Season 4

If you’re an American Horror Story fan, there’s reason to celebrate today. First, it’s Wednesday! American Horror Story: Coven airs a new episode tonight! That by itself may not be news, but add on the confirmation that the series has been renewed for a fourth season and there’s certainly cause for applause…

FX announced today that they’ve ordered a fourth “installment” of American Horror Story. They seem to go out of their way to not call it a “season,” and actually refer to it as “the untitled AHS miniseries” at one point, which makes sense if you’re familiar with the format of the show. Each season of AHS starts over with a brand new story and new characters. Some of the cast members have returned year after year, but new actors have come and gone each season. The first installment is referred to as American Horror Story: Murder House, and centered on a family that moved into a house with a dark history and a lot of ghosts. The second season was Asylum, which was set decades ago in an institution for the criminally insane. And the current season, AHS: Coven is tackling witches.

Given the vast nature of the horror genre, there are endless possibilities for future installments, and I have no doubt that Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are already tinkering with ideas for Season 4, which will debut in 2014. Of course, FX’s announcement offers no clues as to what the fourth season will involve, only that it will consist of 13 hours and will debut in 2014. So we’ll have months and months to speculate and wait for clues about the title and subject matter. And of course, wait for word on who will star. Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters are among the cast members who have returned to the series each season for new roles, while other actors — Emma Roberts, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Connie Britton, etc — have only appeared in one season (so far). With its continuously changing plot and character line-up, the series continues to present new opportunities for exciting casting, and Season 4 will be no exception, I’m sure.

Given that AHS: Coven is averaging 7.74 million total viewers this season, 5.46 million Adults 18-49 and 3.14 million Adults 18-34. There are nine episodes remaining in American Horror Story: Coven, including tonight’s episode, titled “Burn, Witch. Burn.”

What kind of new power does Zoe unleash, and are we reading too much into it to wonder if that could be a clue that she’s the next Supreme?

American Horror Story: Coven airs Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on FX.