Entertainment

All Your Favorite 'AHS: Cult' Stars Are Coming Back For Season 8, So Get Ready

by Dylan Kickham
FX

The cult is not disbanding yet on American Horror Story. Showrunner Ryan Murphy just confirmed a bunch of actors that will star in the upcoming eighth season of American Horror Story, and they will definitely be familiar to fans who watched last season, American Horror Story: Cult. Most of the main cast of AHS: Cult is returning for American Horror Story Season 8, Murphy confirmed at a panel over the weekend. Murphy also dropped some new details about the mysterious new season, including a confirmation on when Season 8 will be set.

American Horror Story: Cult stars Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Billy Eichner, Cheyenne Jackson, Adina Porter, and Leslie Grossman were all on hand at a Emmy FYC panel with showrunner Ryan Murphy on Friday night, and Murphy took the opportunity to confirm that all of those actors will be back in Season 8. Although AHS constants Paulson and Peters had already been confirmed for the new season ahead of the panel, the inclusion of Eichner, Jackson, Porter, and Grossman was totally new information to fans. The currently untitled Season 8 will be both Jackson and Porter's fourth season of American Horror Story, and Eichner and Grossman's second. The new cast members will join Kathy Bates in AHS Season 8, along with Joan Collins, who will play the grandmother of Evan Peters' character.

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Billy Eichner, Leslie Grossman, Cheyenne Jackson, and Adina Porter all had main parts in the previous season, American Horror Story: Cult. Jackson portrayed the mysterious therapist Dr. Rudy Vincent, Porter played the tenacious reporter Beverly Hope, and Eichner and Grossman offered up some comedic relief as the eccentric couple Harrison and Meadow.

There's no info yet about who the four returning Cult actors might be playing in the upcoming season, but Ryan Murphy did reveal some new details about the what Season 8 will look like. We already knew that Season 8 will take place some time in the future, marking the first time that the franchise has significantly jumped beyond present-day, but it was never made clear just how far into the future the season would go. Recently rumors were going around that the season would be set in the year 2032, but Murphy confirmed that Season 8 will be set "18 months from today," meaning the action will take place towards the end of 2019.

Unfortunately, Ryan Murphy did not comment on what the theme of the eighth season will be, but most fans are convinced that it will be called American Horror Story: Radioactive. The rumor began when Internet sleuths tracked down a trademark filed for that name, and pairing the name with the confirmation that the new season will be set in the future, a narrative formed that Season 8 may likely be set shortly after a nuclear event and follow the lives of a set of survivors. Of course, that has yet to be officially confirmed, but it is by far the most prevalent rumor about what Season 8 will be about among fans.

A few other tidbits from the American Horror Story panel that Ryan Murphy let slip include that the new season will feature the directorial debuts of stars Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters, and that Season 8 will fall more in line with the more ludicrous, freewheeling tone of seasons like Asylum and Coven rather than the more grounded, realistic tone of Cult.

Production for American Horror Story Season 8 is set to begin on June 16, and the new season is expected to premiere this fall. Expect to get some confirmation on the theme of the new season in the coming months.