FX has got to hold the world record (call Guinness!) for most promos advertising a single season of television in broadcasting history.
“American Horror Story” returns with its sixth season tonight, after exhausting us with a whopping 25/26(?) promos. While FX hasn’t gone on record regarding the season’s title or theme, various outlets – from Comcast/Xfinity to TV Guide – are reporting that it’s titled “American Horror Story: The Mist”. Even if true, it doesn’t tell us much about the plot.
FX CEO John Landgraf explained that when it comes to the teasers, “One is accurate; all the rest are misdirect.” He continued, “We decided, Ryan [Murphy] and I and [marketing president] Stephanie Gibbons, that it would be really fun this year…to keep it a mystery. There is a theme and a setting and a place and time, but we’re not going to reveal it,” per IndieWire.
With “American Horror Story” premiering tonight, I wanted to take one final stab at guessing the season’s theme, which I think is eluded to in the overall arc of the promo trailers.
There are recurring themes in the promos, which are included below. Here’s what to watch for:
-BUGS
-CHILDREN
-ALIENS
Now that you’ve watched all six minutes of trailers, here’s what you should have picked up.
– More than a handful of the promos feature bugs – in fact, three of them have spiders (I will not be watching this show if it’s infested with arachnid). Also, the official Twitter account has changed their banner to the “Backtrack” promo, which shows bugs – one by one – crawling into someone’s brain. Could this season be inspired by Invasion of the Body Snatchers, only with bugs as the catalyst?
– Speaking of aliens, you’ll also notice that a handful of the promos feature extraterrestrials from UFO abductions to crop circles. This ties into the very subtle “American Horror Story: Asylum” sequences that feature the crazed doctor (James Cromwell as Dr. Arthur Arden) experimenting under the guidance of aliens. In fact the Nazi doctor was also tied to the show’s fourth season, “Freak Show”, and Jessica Lange’s character, Elsa Mars. Shit, even the eyeball promo implies there’s something “inside” of the show’s characters!
– Lastly, did you happen to notice how many promos featured children in a Children of the Corn-esque setting? There’s quite a few….
I did a little extra digging and discovered that IMDB has some info on an upcoming episode. At the aforementioned link they have the cast for episode 6.6, which include Kimberly Bailey as an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) representative. Could this have to do with the children or some sort of infection? (I’m probably reaching a bit here.)
Earlier, leaked photos by TMZ revealed that the storyline may involve a 16th-century farm with “Croatoan” carved into a tree – pointing to the myth of Roanoke (a lost colony in 1590 when 117 settlers suddenly disappeared).
Vinereport caught wind that during a recent appearance on BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show to promote her latest single “Perfect Illusion,” Lady Gaga revealed, “The character I’m playing this year on ‘Horror Story,’ she’s quite grounded. That might sound ridiculous once you see who she is, but she’s very ‘in the earth.'”
This leads me to making one bold proclamation: “American Horror Story’s” sixth season is going to be about aliens using bugs to enslave the children of a small town in the 1950s. I’m wondering if Gaga’s character will be alien, even if not directly acknowledged, and have some sort of control over Earth’s insects? Reminiscent of John Carpenter’s Village of the Damned? Yup. Even more similar to the ongoing series “Braindead”? Sure. No matter, the “American Horror Story” filmmakers take themes and tropes from all over the place and makes it their own.
What say you? All will be revealed tonight!