American Horror Story renewed for season 2 and some spoilers behind the cut

Credit: FX

FX just handed American Horror Story a pretty sweet Halloween treat: A Season 2 pickup!

The cabler announced on Monday that it has renewed the freshman thriller for a 13-episode second season.

“It’s one thing to have the ambition and guts to reinvent a genre in a way that makes it captivatingly fresh for a broad audience — it’s something else entirely to have the craft to back that ambition up,” said FX prez John Landgraf in a statement. “Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have hit the trifecta with Nip/Tuck, Glee and now American Horror Story, which will be scaring FX’s viewers to death for many years to come.”

AHS has enjoyed steady audience growth through its first four episodes among its target audience of adults 18-49. According to FX (which is marathoning the first four episodes tonight beginning at 10/9c), the show is “tracking to become the highest-rated first season of any series ever on FX, certain to surpass Murphy’s award-winning hit drama Nip/Tuck in Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34.”

Unlike Nip/Tuck, it’s unclear what Horror Story‘s second season will look like. It was initially reported that each season would feature a new family moving into the show’s haunted mansion, but producers claim no decision has been made. Just last week, stars Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton pleaded ignorance when asked if they’d be back for more.

“It’s open-ended – we’re not quite sure about the next episode never mind next year,” McDermott hedged. “We’re just sort of like flying by the seat of our pants.” Britton even suggests, “I don’t know that Brad and Ryan know, which I think is really fun.”

HOW IS THIS FREAKFEST HITTING RATINGS HIGHS, AND NOT SCARING PEOPLE AWAY?

Britton, who being horror-averse would have been one of the last people to give AHS a try, assigns all credit to the series’ twisted masterminds. “What is so brilliant about what Ryan [Murphy] and Brad [Falchuk] do is they have a very distinct vision that is so outside-the-box of anything we’ve seen before, and they have such a great talent for bringing that to fruition. I think audiences — even those whose natural inclination is not to watch a show like this — are drawn to and appreciate being challenged.” McDermott concurs, saying, “People are smart and want to have something to watch that’s interesting and intelligent… and a lot of television doesn’t offer that. It’s the complexity of the show that makes it stand out.”

HAVE WE SEEN THE LAST OF ADDIE?

In discussing his favorite storylines, McDermott confirmed that Constance (played by Jessica Lange) dragged her daughter, felled by a hit-and-run, to her lawn “to make her a ghost, which I thought was such a great storyline.” As such, we must assume we’ll see the wannabe “pretty girl” in some form again. Says McDermott, “I’m really interested in what’s go to happen to [Lange's] character.”

WHO IS THE RUBBER MAN?

Britton, addressing one piece of speculation that the “infantata” – the Frankenstein-like monstrosity that the house’s original owner sewed together from his dead child – is grown up and wearing the suit (when it’s not Tate goofing around), said “that’s a great guess,” but declined to confirm or deny the identity of the unsettling icon aka Vivien’s baby daddy. McDermott meanwhile raised at least this reporter’s eyebrow by disclosing, “I’ve had to put on the rubber suit a few times myself.” Hmmm. Speaking of Vivien’s freaky-yet-fruitful hook-up….

WHY DID THE NURSE FAINT UPON SEEING THE ULTRASOUND?

“I really don’t know what she saw,” Britton told TVLine when we lobbed this question her way, “but my suspicion is that it was something with horns. I think that’s Vivien’s fear, that it was something with horns.”

HAS DELIVERING ANY OF THIS OUT-THERE FARE MADE THE ACTORS UNCOMFORTABLE?

“After masturbating in the pilot ” — while crying — “what else is there?” McDermott counters with a chuckle. “I couldn’t be uncomfortable again.” As Britton points out, “Ryan and Brad can come up with something that I think is going to be hideous and awful, but I’ve grown to really trust them to create it in a way that is only interesting.”

BUT WILL CONNIE AND DYLAN BE BACK FOR THE JUST-ORDERED SEASON 2? (PERHAPS AS GHOSTS TO HAUNT THE NEXT VICTIMS?)

“It’s open-ended – we’re not quite sure about the next episode never mind next year,” McDermott hedged. “We’re just sort of like flying by the seat of our pants.” Britton even suggests, “I don’t know that Brad and Ryan know, which I think is really fun! It’s such an evolution in progress.”

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