Being October, FX viewers and American Horror Story fans have gotten used to a new season of the hit anthology series premiering on television this time of year. From 2011 to 2019, a new season of the show premiered every year, with a somewhat sporadic timeline since then (though typically with at least some episodes premiering in October). Since 2011, only 2020 and 2025 have not had any new episodes premiere. As the wait for American Horror Story Season 13 continues to mount for fans, a surprising new announcement has arrived that might make fans scratch their heads.
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Mattel Studios has announced a new TV series, hailing from both American Horror Story‘s Brad Falchuk and Academy Award nominee M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Split, Signs) have teamed up to make a TV series based on the Magic 8 Ball. According to a press release, the pair will take the question-based figure and its 20 distinct answers and make it “the centerpiece of a high-concept, character-driven supernatural drama that blends psychological intensity with cultural intrigue.”
American Horror Story Co-Creator Teams With M. Night Shyamalan for Magic 8 Ball Series
Though hearing “Magic 8 Ball TV series co-created by M. Night Shyamalan” sounds like a one-off joke from The Studio, it could very well lead to something interesting from the prolific writer-director. The distinction of choices and outside forces being the one with all the answers, or perhaps even shifting one’s fate and reality to fit the narrative it has chosen, feels like ripe territory for M. Night Shyamalan to explore as a storyteller. There are elements in his feature films throughout his career, from the big twists of Unbreakable, The Village, and Old, all playing into it in some format for their larger narratives.
What remains to be seen is if the Magic 8 Ball series will take on an anthology format, with different people and characters in every episode interacting with the toy and one of its many responses, or if it will be a serialized drama that follows the same cast throughout. It stands to reason that it will be the latter, as both Falchuck and Shyamalan have experience telling long-form stories across seasons with their TV shows. That said, Falchuck did pen multiple episodes of the anthology spinoff series American Horror Stories, so precedent exists. One thing is for sure: a twist feels all but guaranteed by the end of the first episode.
The Magic 8 Ball has been around for 75 years and, according to Mattel, sells over a million units per year. As noted in their press release, this marks the latest expansion for Mattel’s larger toy portfolio into other media, a measure they’ve been aggressively pursuing ever since the live-action Barbie movie became a billion-dollar global hit and Best Picture nominee. In the time since then, Mattel finally has a live-action Masters of the Universe movie coming out along with a live-action Hot Wheels movie in development, plus Matchbox, Monster High, and more.
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm.
