‘American Horror Story’: Is Ryan Murphy Already Teasing the Cast for Season 9?

Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Apocalypse ended last week, but a photo the series creator recently shared has fans wondering if he’s just given a major tease for Season 9.

In a new Instagram posted on Thursday — the day after Apocalypse‘s stunning season finale — Murphy shared a photo of actors Cody Fern, Finn Wittrock, and Darren Criss with a rather cryptic caption. You can check it out below.

“Cooking up something good for these three,” Murphy wrote.

Murphy didn’t reveal anything specific, but with his tendency to use actors across multiple seasons and characters of American Horror Story fans couldn’t help but wonder if this is the first casting hint for Season 9. All three actors have appeared in the American Horror Story universe. Fern just came off his role as the Antichrist Michael Langdon in Apocalypse while Wittrock appeared in Freak Show and Criss played an annoying hipster who met a very satisfying death in Hotel.

If the three actors do end up being part of the cast for Season 9, it will be interesting to see what story Murphy comes up with for them. Even before Apocalypse‘s finale, fans had speculated that Season 9 might end up being the first-ever sequel season for the FX horror anthology series. The rationale behind that theory was that there were too many plot elements to satisfactorily wrap up with the Apocalypse finale, but the episode did manage to tie things together rather well — and introduce a brand new Antichrist once Michael was defeated. It turns out that Timothy (Kyle Allen) and Emily (Ash Santos) really were Adam and Eve-style figures, just of the darker sort, something that could potentially drive story within the series for some time to come.

That reveal is something that Apocalypse star Leslie Grossman said in a recent interview took her by surprise.

“My reaction was, ‘Oh, s-it!’”, Grossman said. “There’s no such thing as a happy ending on American Horror Story, so I thought it was the perfect way to wrap it up. I have no idea what Season 9 will be about, and I have no idea if this is a story they’d ever want to revisit, but I think it’s so clever to always leave the door open.”

What do you think Murphy was teasing with his Instagram post? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.