‘American Horror Story’ Season 13 Fan Theories: Could 1 Character Connect Every Story?
American Horror Story: Delicate returns to FX with its second half on Wednesday, April 3, which will bring an end to this Rosemary’s Baby-esque horror story. With the series already renewed for Season 13, we’ve got new themes on the mind.
Delicate marks the first time AHS has adapted a book for its plot (Danielle Valentine’s Delicate Condition served as the inspiration). The season stars frequent face Emma Roberts, with Kim Kardashian in her first series regular role as the cutthroat publicist, Siobhan Corbyn.
Roberts plays Anna Victoria Alcott, a C-list-turned-prestige actor campaigning for an Oscar while also trying to conceive her first child with her husband, Dex (Max Czuchry). Things take cult-like turns as Anna fears some evil force is targeting her and her baby. In AHS: Delicate Part 2, we’ll learn more about Siobhan’s involvement in this nefarious plot.
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have delivered 12 seasons worth of scary stories for the horror-loving masses since 2011. With 13 being such a spooky number, some fans believe the show could (or maybe should) end with the 13th installment. They’ve also cooked up some fascinating American Horror Story Season 13 theme theories while they await updates on the next season. Some of them would be great final season themes, whereas others are more suited as a great next installment rather than the show’s last hurrah.
Here are some of our favorite American Horror Story Season 13 fan theories and why they work.
“Devil’s End”
“Devil’s End. The Coven witches return with some other familiar characters from past seasons for Satan’s final attempt on controlling and killing humanity. There’s also a twist on how same actor characters are connected in this world,” one fan posed on a Reddit discussion board.
This would be an exciting end to the series, setting the stage for a grand finale. AHS is already in the business of occasionally connecting its seasons, despite it being an anthology series. Season 10 Part 2, Death Valley, for example, finally answered the long-lingering questions about the aliens from Season 2, Asylum. It also revealed what happened to Kit Walker’s (Evan Peters‘ Asylum character) children after the events of Season 2. Season 8, Apocalypse, brought not just the Season 3 Coven witches back, but also select Murder House characters. Having the final story thread a needle through every single one before it would be a very satisfying final act.
Another comment on this thread agreed the devil should be the big bad: “I feel like the devil himself would be the main villain, maybe in human form,” the fan wrote. “It’d probably have political and religious. I could see the coven returning, Kit’s children returning, and Billie Dean [Howard, Sarah Paulson‘s Murder House character] returning as the lead.”
Billie, a medium, is one of two characters Paulson reprised in Apocalypse (the other being Coven‘s Cordelia Foxx), with her third character being Wilhemina Venable. Her characters helped fight Cody Fern‘s antichrist and save humanity. Having Paulson lead this hypothetical final season would make the most sense if she were to reprise one of these roles again, as the original theory posed.
Apocalypse Continued
“Just finish with fan service at this point,” one fan commented on the Reddit thread above, adding, “It is the final showdown as [the Coven witches] eradicate the baby from the end of Apocalypse, who also is now grown up… so Satan comes up to do the job himself since this sh*t isn’t working. As a result, he starts activating the Hellmouths (Murder House, Briarcliff, the old fairgrounds of Elsa’s which now has a boarding school built over it, Roanoke House, Provincetown, Hotel Cortez, etc.) The major heavy hitters locations.”
Michele K. Short/FX Networks/Courtesy Everett Collection
“Each episode is a tie-up of loose ends from each season and answering questions or seeing some fun crossovers,” the theory continues. “Ramirez and the rest of the serial killers at Devil’s Night hunt down Jingles’ son Bobby… or Bobby winds up at the Hot Cortez on Devil’s Night. Each episode has one member of the Coven also attempting to save the day (some fail, some succeed). The original Bloody Face comes back for Lana, but Johnny returns to save his mom this time so it is father vs. son. Papa Legba could cross paths with the Angel of Death. We do not see Moira because it is explained she was released from Murder House once Madison was saved from Hell again in the new timeline.
“Basically, Cordelia does die… Mallory ascends to Supreme. Final showdown happens at the Roanoke House where it eventually caves in on itself and one of Kit’s children is the one that helps bring down the Devil, possessed by the spirit of the first Supreme.”
Murphy should consider cutting this commenter a check because I would watch this season over and over again if it was created. This would bring every season of AHS back in thrilling form, but more than anything, it would honor the show’s recurring ensemble cast with some incredible role reprisals — for many of them, more than one. And with such unforgettable performances in this franchise over the years, one heavy-hitting swan song for each of them would be the definition of must-see TV.
“Wild West”
This theory is the most exciting if the show is to continue beyond Season 13. The “Wild West” theme, in this fan’s mind, covers genres and themes that have yet to be explored in the franchise by opening things up to more “historical horrors.” Roanoke and Coven, among other seasons, delved into real-life American horror stories, like the myth of the lost colony of Roanoke and Kathy Bates‘ truly evil Madame Delphine LaLaurie in Coven.
But horror stories of American colonialism and westward expansion (solely set in those time periods) would be fantastic AHS fodder. This fan theory suggests diving into what “happened to Native Americans” when the American colonies began. This plot would need to be handled with the utmost care — and with a writers’ room, production team, and cast full of Indigenous people, first and foremost — but seasons like Cult and Freak Show are examples of the horrors humans commit against each other throughout American history. An Indigenous tale would fit into this theme well.
Another intriguing suggestion from this theory: the Donner Party. This was a group of American pioneers who, on their long journey west, got trapped in 1846–1847 in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the winter. Their desperation for food is said to have led to cannibalism, and this grim story has spurred haunting ghost stories. AHS could really make a meal out of this gory tale (pun intended).
American Horror Story: Delicate Part 2, Premieres Wednesday, April 3, 10/9c, FX
American Horror Story: Delicate where to stream
