It's that time of year! One of the most interesting aspects of Comic-Con, in my humble opinion, is the mysterious presence of American Horror Story [1]. In 2016, a strange VR experience clue [2] gave us the first traces of what we could expect from Roanoke. Last year, in addition to the Cult title announcement [3], there was an equally strange exhibition [4] that really got our wheels turning. Naturally, now that we've caught wind of the 2018 Comic-Con presentation by AHS, we've already got our thinking caps on. And, as luck would have it, we have a few under-the-radar sources that are giving us a peek into the madness. Let's dive in.
The Official Promotion Materials
Of course, the best place to start is with the official source. On AHS's official Twitter, they dropped a promotional tweet [6] to tease this year's Comic-Con exhibition. The AR (Augmented Reality) experience will allegedly reveal "terrifying mysteries" that are "hiding in plain sight." Here's the thing with Augmented Reality: whatever special hardware or technology they're using, it will have to interact with the environment that's already there. This is probably what they mean by "hiding in plain sight" — the experience will layer hints onto the objects in the room.
I mean, you can also read this whole "hiding in plain sight thing" a lot more literally. As in, there are literal clues for season eight strewn around the exhibition. Which brings us to the less concrete pieces of evidence the internet has unearthed so far.
The Return of the Antichrist?
As you now know, the eighth season has been confirmed as the crossover season [7] between Murder House and Coven. And if you recall, Murder House (aka season one) ends with the birth of the Antichrist — the child of Vivien Harmon and the spirit of Tate Langdon. The last scene of the season flashes forward to 2015 [8], when the Antichrist, aka Michael Langdon, murders his nanny.
What does all of this have to do with the Comic-Con exhibition? Well, some AHS fansites have picked up some kind of creepy demonic goat figure [9]. What could that imagery mean, if it is indeed a legit clue about the upcoming season? Well, some think this may be a reference to an entity known as Baphomet [10]. The goat-headed figure is a staple of satanism and the occult. Are you seeing the connection? This could be a way to signal to fans that Michael Langdon may be the link between season one and season eight.
The First Supreme?!
Here's another one that requires a bit of creativity. There's another video that's circulating [11]; in addition to featuring the aforementioned goat-demon thing, it also shows what appears to be a toothy chandelier. This could connect to Coven by way of Roanoke. To refresh your memory, FX released 26 teasers for season six [12], and 25 were misdirects. The last one, meant to confirm Roanoke as the theme, featured a chandelier of teeth. While teeth don't factor that much into the season, there are a few disturbing scenes featuring some dental horror.
Here's the connection: in Roanoke, we meet a monstrous she-demon known as Scáthach [13] (played by Lady Gaga [14]). Ryan Murphy has confirmed that this woman was the first Supreme, or more plainly, the first all-powerful witch to exist in the New World.
With the inclusion of this tooth chandelier in the Comic-Con exhibition, it might mean that the story of this original Supreme will somehow factor into the new season. Or maybe it's a sneaky way of inferring that the title of the Supreme in general is an important part of the plot.
More Aliens
Here's another rather bizarre thing that's been picked up by multiple sources: strange, alien-like figures. One Twitter account captured them in production mode [15], saying that the images were pulled from the woman who was creating the figurines. Another video from a different page [16] seems to have captured them after instalment. Why am I thinking aliens, do you ask? There's something about the size and shape of the figures that makes them seem not quite human. Plus, their bumpy black suits and strangely oversize helmets don't really seem to be of this planet, either.
Then again, aliens would be a weird choice with so much else going on. If we already have a season with witches and spirits and the Antichrist and the occult, are we really going to have aliens in the mix as well? This brings us to our final point: maybe it's not about witches. Maybe AHS is about to go nuclear.
The Nuclear Fallout
OK, listen. Fans have been speculating for months that the theme of the season could be "Radioactive" [17] or something along those lines. FX filed a trademark for the title, and there have even been logos on set [18] that seem to confirm a radioactive or nuclear theme. The only image we haven't talked about is one of a severely decayed statue [19], which could (with an extreme stretch of the imagination) refer to the degradation of our modern culture. And, I mean, if those little guys aren't aliens, maybe they're somehow tied into this whole thing.
So there you have it. Honestly, we're more confused and intrigued than ever.