Ryan Murphyis teasing more details aboutAmerican Horror StorySeason 7, and it’s poised to be the anthology series’ most zeitgeist-y season to date. Murphy previously revealed that the next season of the horror show would revolve around the recent presidential election, and while he initially said thatDonald TrumpandHillary Clintonwould not be characters in the show, it appears he’s changed course.
Speaking withE! Online, Murphy revealed that fictionalized versions of Trump and Clinton will appear in the show, but they’re not the focus:
“I think people literally thinkSarah Paulsonis playing Hillary Clinton, and I wanted to clarify that that is not true.Horror Storyis always about allegory, so the election is allegory. It’s our jumping off point. It is about the election we just went through and what happened on that night and the fallout of that night, which to many people, from all sides of the camps is a horror story. And you know, that show is always so fun when it’s about the zeitgeist and what we’re doing now."
Paulson andAHSregularEvan Petersare the leads of the new season, but we still don’t know who they’re playing. Murphy did reveal, however, that the show won’t be a play-by-play of the campaign but instead begins on the night of the election:
“[We haven’t cast Clinton or Trump] yet. We’re halfway through the writing and not yet. But it’s really, really fun. It starts on election night is all I’ll say…It’s very scary that night for many people. It’s fun, you will like it. It’s really a season that will have a lot of people interested and I think there’s something for everybody in that season.”
I’ve seen every season ofAmerican Horror Story, for better or worse, and I am 100% not down with watching a fictionalized account of Donald Trump’s impact play out for entertainment value. Murphy and Co. certainly nailed social commentary in the tremendousThe People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, but the very unevenAmerican Horror Storyhas always been a schlocky, soapy, silly series that’s impossible to take seriously. I don’t exactly have the confidence that Murphy can pull off a Trump/Clinton satire under the guise ofAmerican Horror Storyregardless of the involvement of the impeccably talented Sarah Paulson.
Murphy previously teased thatAmerican Horror StorySeason 7 would bring back some characters from theFreak Showseason, but that was before the election so it’s unclear if that idea has been tossed aside. Murphy is about to debut yet another anthology series on FX, thewell-reviewedFEUD: Bette and Joan, is getting ready to begin production on the next two seasons ofAmerican Crime Story,KatrinaandVersace, and was recently granted a second season ofFEUDto revolve aroundPrincess DianaandPrince Charles, so he continues to juggle the jobs of four showrunners in one.
Which, again, may be cause for concern with regards toAHSSeason 7. More often than not this particular show runs out of steam fast and thinks it’s way smarter than it actually is, so tackling such important (and genuinely scary) subject matter seems misguided.
What do you think folks? Will you be watching? Sound off in the comments below.
