‘American Horror Story’ has given us some awfully creepy images and disturbing characters over its six years on the air so far.  Whether it was the devious witches in ‘Coven‘ or the deranged lunatics in ‘Asylum’ or even the supernatural spirits from ‘Murder House,’ there’s been no shortage of memorable portrayals on the show.  Fans are usually in agreement, however, that one of the most memorable characters has definitely been Twisty the Clown, played to psychotic perfection by John Carroll Lynch in ‘Freak Show,’ the fifth season of the anthology series.

While details and plot particulars for the upcoming seventh season have remained pretty tightly under wraps so far, series creator Ryan Murphy recently shared an image on his Instagram account that will have Twisty fans everywhere excited for the return of the deranged entertainer.  Murphy shared what appears to be an image from the set, with the caption “He’s baaaaaack” – check it out:

He’s Baaaaaack

A post shared by Ryan Murphy (@mrrpmurphy) on

It’s important to note, of course, that the image does not explicitly state that Lynch is returning to the show – rather, Twisty appears as the main character on the cover of a 1950s-styled horror comic book, one that appears to be titled “Twisty: The Clown Chronicles.”

Does a character simply read about the clown in a comic, serving as an “easter egg” of sorts, or is there more connection here than meets the eye?  We’ll likely have to wait until ‘American Horror Story’ debuts on TV this fall to get the full story, I’m afraid!

The seventh season of ‘American Horror Story’ doesn’t have an official release date yet, but will likely be premiering sometime this Fall on the FX network.