The new American Horror Story season 11 trailer teases the deadliest year in New York history. The FX series was co-created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk in 2011, revealing after the end of its first season, Murder House, that it was an anthology where each season would feature overlapping cast members but new characters, an alternate setting, and a different storyline. Later, it was revealed that these anthology seasons do largely take place in the same universe, when season 8, Apocalypse, featured a crossover between the characters from season 3, Coven, and Murder House, three different continuities that all featured characters played by AHS stalwart Sarah Paulson.
The newest season of American Horror Story, subtitled NYC, is set to premiere on October 19. The confirmed cast so far includes Joe Mantello, Billie Lourd, Zachary Quinto, Russell Tovey, Leslie Grossman, Charlie Carver, Sandra Bernhard, Isaac Cole Powell, Denis O'Hare, and Patti LuPone, many of whom have appeared in previous seasons of the series. Carver, who is best known for his role on the MTV series Teen Wolf, is also on the writing staff of NYC. In fact, he has a credit as co-writer on the premiere episode of the 10-episode season, which will run on FX through November 16.
Today, FX shared the official trailer for American Horror Story season 11. The 30-second teaser, as is common for AHS promotional materials, doesn't explain much, though it is chockful of frightening imagery, including a recurring motif of skulls with spikes protruding out from them and a syringe of blood being squirted into a drink. The only concrete information the teaser offers is in two title cards, which read "the deadliest year" and "a season like no other."
What The AHS Season 11 Trailer Reveals About NYC Story
The teaser promising "the deadliest year" would seem to confirm a rumor that the new season of American Horror Story will be focusing on New York City during the HIV/AIDS crisis. This could also be corroborated by the image of blood being injected into a drink, which could be highlighting the fear of blood-borne contagion at the time. This would also be consistent with Murphy's previous work dramatizing the AIDS crisis in the 2014 film The Normal Heart and the FX series Pose, which is set in New York City's ballroom culture during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Another thing that is consistent with the potential American Horror Story AIDS storyline is the final shot, which sees a figure in a spiked mask staring down a group of NYC partygoers. This feels evocative of the Edgar Allen Poe story "The Masque of the Red Death," which sees a masked figure crash a high society party in what is typically perceived as a potent metaphor for the Black Plague. While the details of this season are still being kept tightly under wraps, this teaser is likely to pique the interest of many fans of the long-running horror series.
Source: FX