American Horror Stories May Be Setting up the Most Bizarre AHS Season Yet

The following reveals spoilers for American Horror Stories Season 2, Episode 1, “Dollhouse.”

American Horror Story has ventured far and wide in search of new topics for its outlandish scares, but eventually it comes back around to The Witches Coven. Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies served as the centerpiece for Season 3, “Coven,” before making a triumphant return to save the world in Season 8, “Apocalypse.” Show runner Ryan Murphy promised that The Coven would return again in a future season at the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018, and with the series renewed for at least three more seasons, there’s plenty of room for them in the schedule.

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The question of why they return, or what they might face when they do remains up in the air. However, the series has dropped some considerable hints in the previous season, and with the spin-off series American Horror Stories directly connecting The Coven to its otherwise self-contained story in its Season 2 premiere, the producers are ramping something up. From what the signs say, it might be the most over-the-top season yet.

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“Coven” concerns an extended power struggle within the witches’ circle as the treacherous Fiona Goode seeks immortality and a means of holding onto her position as Supreme. Her daughter, Cordelia, ends the season in firm control of The Coven, with a reborn mission to do more than just survive. That paid dividends in “Apocalypse,” which opens with the end of the world and portrays the machinations of the reborn Antichrist to finally claim his birthright in the days that follow. The Coven arrives to stop him, and eventually succeeds by sending one of their own back in time to kill the son of Satan before he can trigger Armageddon.

The trick allowed American Horror Story to have its cake and eat it too: destroying its world and exploring the implications of the Biblical end before allowing its resident witches to undo it all. Good storytelling helped — The Coven required far more than hand-waving to pull of their miracle — but the results established that they could theoretically prevent anything from happening with enough time and planning.

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American Horror Stories Season 2, Episode 1, “Dollhouse” makes it clear that they haven’t gone anywhere, arriving in the 11th hour to save its heroine from a hellish existence as a toymaker’s plastic-encased slave and bring her to the school. It’s a superfluous flourish — at least in terms of “Dollhouse’s” story — that could have easily been cut, but the witches’ presence is very purposeful, and even includes an appearance by Coven stalwart Myrtle Snow as a young girl. Whether there will be subsequent appearances in the spin-off has yet to be seen, but producers clearly wanted to remind fans of their existence.

As to what disaster they could confront that can compare with The Biblical End Times, American Horror Story Season 10 “Double Feature” provides a strong explanation. Space aliens launched a secret breeding program in the 1950s, and the season ended with their preparations to eliminate the human race and take over the planet. American Horror Story rarely leaves its plot lines unresolved at the end of a season in such a manner, and with the aliens making more oblique appearances in Season 2, “Asylum,” they’re already a well-established part of the mythology. When balanced against Murphy’s comments and The Coven’s prominent appearance in the season premiere of the spin-off show, a confrontation between the two suddenly looks very likely.

That leaves the prospect of a colossal clash of genres, as beings from beyond stars battle against the descendants of the Salem witch trials for control of the planet. “Double Feature” gave its aliens vaguely Lovecraftian overtones, which might help smooth the incongruity, but in truth it may not want to. The series has thrived on embracing its camp potential, which includes twist so wild even the most jaded viewer can never tell what’s coming next. Given the signals the franchise is sending out, The Coven’s next appearance might just be the topper to end all toppers.

New episodes of American Horror Stories air every Thursday on Hulu.