American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy has issued a recount for his expanding universe poll. Murphy took to social media to see which storyline fans would like to watch in an upcoming iteration of the show. It's unclear if fans are voting on the theme for the next season or if if this is a different project entirely, but Murphy does note in the posts for the voting that "The American Horror Story Universe is Expanding."
Murphy initially presented six themes fans could vote on: aliens, Christmas horror, Bloody Mary, sirens, piggy man, and the plague. He then narrowed down the options to two choices that fans could once again vote on, comprised of Bloody Mary and the Plague. When fans took to social media to demand a recount, Murphy updated the options and now is having fans vote on two more themes.
Murphy announced the recount on Twitter "because [fans] demanded it." Bloody Mary is still in the running for the final two, but plague has been removed and replaced with the sirens theme. In the comments on his Twitter and Instagram posts, it seems like sirens is the overwhelming favorite, but Murphy has yet to announce which theme won the recount.
In addition to the flagship American Horror Story show and its upcoming tenth season, Double Feature, Murphy is set to premiere American Horror Stories. This anthology series will condense the tales into even shorter, episodic length chapters with sixteen entries in the first season. Whether or not these themes will pop up in American Horror Stories remains up for debate, but it seems unlikely that Murphy would have fans vote for something that would only be lasting for one episode. His comments on an expanding universe certainly seem to hint at another series, but what form that could take remains unclear.
It could also simply be the theme for the next season of American Horror Story. The FX series is renewed through season 13 and production is nearly complete on Double Feature. It's safe to assume that Murphy and his team are beginning to work out what's in store for next year's entry. With these two finalists, it's comforting to know that at least Murphy won't be producing a plague season during an ongoing pandemic. While American Horror Story has always been known for pushing boundaries and even got topical with its Cult season, sirens or Bloody Mary are far enough removed to be scary without making viewers uncomfortable.
Source: Ryan Murphy