As American Horror Story: 1984 [1] counts down to its final episodes, we can't help but wonder, who's going to make it out alive in the end? In the latest promo [2] for the series, Donna talks to Brooke about the "final girl" trope, which is basically the last person to survive in a slasher movie, usually an innocent young woman [3]. Brooke might have had a good girl Laurie Strode [4] thing going on for her, but we wouldn't place all of our bets on her living yet. Let's investigate the remaining Camp Redwood survivors, and weigh all of the reasons they might or might not make it out of this season alive.
Brooke
At the beginning of the season, Brooke seemed the most likely candidate to be the final girl. But should she survive, wouldn't it be a little too obvious? Plus, as the plot thickened, she grew tougher and became less of a goody two-shoes. She slept with Ray's ghost, murdered Montana, served years in prison, and nearly almost died by lethal injection. Not to mention, she recently hacked up Dylan McDermott.
Another reason we have our doubts? Emma Roberts pretty much always dies, whether she's sawed in half in Freak Show or gets strangled to death in Coven [5].
Donna
Donna starts out a little bit evil this season, assuming the identity of Nurse Rita to bring Mr. Jingles into Camp Redwood. We do see a redemption arc when she survives the 1984 murders [6] and helps Brooke escape a wrongful execution. Hopefully, the writers don't take the arc as far as making Donna die for her past sins — after all, morally ambiguous characters often make it out alive, as with the case of Sister Jude in Asylum [7] and Ally in Cult.
We're keeping our fingers crossed that both she and Brooke survive because they make for a pretty badass partnership!
Margaret
At first, it seemed like Margaret was the original final girl before we learned that she was the one who instigated the 1970 massacre. Given that the ghosts (and living) hate her guts, Margaret surviving the upcoming massacre doesn't seem like a strong possibility. Still, it's technically the Lady in White who pushed her to kill her fellow camp members [8], so maybe she's not so morally compromised to warrant being killed. She's gotten away with murder twice already, even thriving enough to build a Dollywood-esque empire of haunted spots. Maybe she'll be lucky the third time around as well.
Trevor
Of all the characters, Trevor has the least amount of blood on his hands, living to tell the tale after Margaret tried to murder him. Maybe we'll see a final guy, which would definitely be a subversive twist on the original trope. Honestly, Trevor's fate could go either way. His relationship with Montana could keep him protected from the ghosts' intended murder spree or make him one of the first victims.
The Night Stalker
We know that the real Richard Ramirez [9] actually died in prison, so wouldn't it make sense for him to survive the entire ordeal and somehow end back in jail? Technically, Ramirez passed away once already, yet he was somehow resurrected and able to get out of Camp Redwood grounds. And he's recently made a pact with Satan. What if he's the only person (entity?) to survive? That's certainly a grim ending, but we'll have to wait and see.