Last season, Ryan Murphy and company kept the theme to ‘American Horror Story’ completely under wraps until the first episode aired. This year, Murphy has relaxed the tight gag order and even screened the first three episodes of the seventh season, ‘Cult,’ for members of the press, asking only that they not reveal any crucial plot points before the show premieres next week. But he did reveal a few details, including some of what went on behind the scenes of the seventh season of the hit horror anthology.
Here’s a little bit of what you can expect:
- “With season 6 [‘Roanoke’], we really wanted to strip everything away, sort of deconstruct it. I thought that was a really good jolt,” Murphy said. The rural ‘Roanoke’, taking place in a run down farm house was a sharp contrast from the stylish and decadent fifth season, ‘Hotel’. ‘Cult’ will be the most grounded season so far, devoid of any supernatural elements and employing a muted, natural color palette.
- ‘Cult’ has been coming for a long time. As Murphy said: “Many seasons, the runner-up idea for the show had been Charles Manson, and the Manson Family.” He spun that into a larger theme examining literal cults as well as the figurative Cult of Personality. To that end, Evan Peters plays several cult leaders including Manson, Jim Jones, David Koresh and in the figurative sense, Andy Warhol. “Lena Dunham is playing Valerie Solanas,
who attempted to shoot Andy Warhol because she felt denied the cult of personality that was Warhol and the Factory at the time.” - Somehow this all ties into last year’s Presidential election. “Last year, at this time, everybody was talking about the election, and everybody was talking about those two candidates,” Murphy said. Trump and Clinton make something of a cameo in the opening credits sequence and it appears the political shift in this country since. But, Murphy says “It’s not about Trump. It’s not about Clinton.” Instead, look for that Cult of Personality to be expressed to Evan Peter’s blue-haired Kai Anderson.
- The promotional materials for season seven have used stark imaged of bees and hives. Murphy explained, “Bees are the original cult.” Indeed, every hive has a queen and the rest are drones who share a hive mind, with one purpose– to serve the queen. But in a literal sense, Billy Eichner‘s character Harrison Wilton is a bee keeper.
‘American Horror Story: Cult’ kicks off on September 5 on FX, starring Sarah Paulson, Cheyenne Jackson, Evan Peters, Billie Lourd and Alison Pill. Guest stars this season include Adina Porter, Frances Conroy, Emma Roberts, Chaz Bono, Colton Haynes, Billy Eichner, Leslie Grossman, Lena Dunham and Mare Winningham.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
