American Horror Story Season 7 Election Night Theme, Release Date, President Trump, Story Details & More!

Fans may forever grapple with whether they enjoyed American Horror Story: Roanoke. But no matter what, a new year means a new anthological terror to come from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. And even if it is not yet time for the much fabled crossover season Murphy keeps teasing, we already know that American Horror Story season 7 is going to be about the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Because that is one real American horror story folks desperately want to revisit, am I right? 

Latest American Horror Story Season 7 News

We have some creepy new concept art being dropped by Ryan Murphy for American Horror Story season 7. And this bit of nastiness would appear to address the elephant in the room... namely the GOP elephant of election night. Whether this represents a character in a grotesque mask or someone who is a literal (and apparently deformed) were-elephant is unclear. Either way, we imagine there will be some thick political commentary accompanying the beastie.

American Horror Story Season 7 Theme Reveal

Previously, Ryan Murphy has stated that American HorrorStory season 7 would not play as coy as season 6 did about its theme or basic premise. Indeed, he unexpectedly dropped a bombshell late one evening on WatchWhat Happens Live with Andy Cohen, revealing the stunning game changer that season 7 will be about the U.S. presidential election. Further, it may or may not include Donald Trump as a character. Depending on who you ask, the 45th President of the United States might be the most horrific monster or monster slayer we've ever seen. (We speculate Ryan Murphy and company would understandably lean toward the former.)

Says Murphy, "Well I don’t have a title, but the season we begin shooting in June is going to be about the election that we just went through. So I think that will be interesting for a lot of people." Cohen, seemingly taken aback as any of us on the candidness, took a moment to gather a follow-up question: will Trump be in it? Murphy's nonchalant answer was "maybe."

Since then, Murphy has back-tracked saying Trump and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not be characters in the season. But he has reversed himself yet again, before finally seeming to settle on the decision that neither Trump or Clinton will be actual characters in the storyline.

He does state though that first episode's 10-minute opening will be on the horror of election night (lucky us). And it will feature footage of the real-life Trump and Clinton.

While speaking with E! Online this past week, Murphy has seemingly (and finally) settled on them not being characters in the new season. However, he did reveal specifically what the first episode would be like...

"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," Murphy said. "Which in itself was a horror story, so it’s like a horror story upon a horror story."

American Horror Story Season 7 Cast

Currently, only two major players have been confirmed to return for season 7, but they are fan favorites Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters, who have been part of this crazy ride since the beginning. So that is something to rejoice in as if it were a "Name Game" singalong!

Billie Lourd, who played Chanel Number 3 on Scream Queens, was added for season 7, along with series newcomer Billy Eichner.

American Horror Story Season 7 Teaser

While we're more than a half-year out from the show's return, the series' official Twitter account offered a tease for season 7, hinting at the long-rumored "cruise ship" plotline that fans have been whispering about for years. The footage certainly looks to point toward a direction at sea, but it also has a striking resemblance to the opening credits of Dark Shadows (the 1960s soap opera, not the bad Johnny Depp movie), which was a clear influence on the second season of AHS. It also features the stick figures from Roanoke. Could the separate seasons continue to converge? After all, we still don't know much about the explorers who dropped season 6's witch off in the New World from a time predating the Lost Colony...

American Horror Story Season 7 Release Date

Traditionally, American Horror Story has returned during the first week of October for most of its run. But season 6 saw a change of pace for Ryan Murphy and company. Not only was it the first year where AHS was merely 10 episodes (as opposed to 12); it was also the only one to premiere in mid-September. This was likely due in part to FX and Murphy's energies also being diverted in 2016 by American Crime Story. But season 2 doesn't look to be making the load any lighter as that new anthology is now FX's biggest hit. So as it continues, we imagine a shorter and differently scheduled AHS will continue. Hence a good guess about when to expect season 7 would be the Wednesday of Sept. 13, 2017.

American Horror Story Season 7 Story Hints

While the above feature suggests a trip to the waves, Ryan Murphy has explicitly stated that the seventh season will revisit characters who (presumably) survived season 4's carnival of terrors.

"Next year, we will be going back to some Freak Show characters, deeper histories and myhthologies,"Ryan Murphy told EW in 2016. "So we’re sort of still exploring season 4 in season 7."