FX has announced that it has renewed American Horror Story for an eighth and ninth season, with the hit anthology show set to run through to 2019, making it the network’s longest-running dramatic series.
“We know explicitly what next season is about, which is seven, but we don’t know what the eighth and ninth seasons are about,” said FX CEO John Landgraf at the Television Critics Association press tour (via EW). “We’re extending it out of trust and goodwill but also, Ryan Murphy made a commitment that he would continue to run that show and that he would be involved as he has been in the past with… designing and building the show from the ground up. So I honestly couldn’t tell you what seasons 8 or 9 [could] be, but I can only tell you that I’m really excited about season 7 and I’m utterly confident that seasons 8 and 9 will be equally original and interesting.”
During the panel, showrunner Ryan Murphy discussed the secrecy surrounding the theme for this year’s seventh season, as well as revealing that AHS veterans Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters have already been cast for season seven: “There are only three people in the world who know what [the new season is about]. And that’s FX CEO John Landgraf, [studio executive] Dana Walden, and Sarah Paulson. I don’t know [if we’ll keep it quiet]. Last year was successful. I don’t know if we’ll do it again. I think maybe we’ll release some of it earlier than we did. But I just started writing it, I haven’t even cast it yet — except for Sarah and Evan. It’s a modern-day story. That’s all I can say.”