‘American Horror Story’ — How Will Previous Seasons Merge In Season 5?

Fans of FX’s American Horror Story are getting excited about the recent announcements of which recurring cast members will be lining up for Season 5. According to TV Week, the new season will air October 7, 2015. So far, we know for sure that Jessica Lange won’t be back, but Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Chloe Sevigny, Matt Bomer, and Wes Bentley will return for American Horror Story: Hotel. Added to the mix this year is Lady Gaga, and suddenly things are looking decidedly strange, which is perfect considering “strange” is the theme creator Ryan Murphy has been going for since Season 1.

But how will Season 5 be connected to the previous four seasons? Ryan Murphy revealed to EW in January that all seasons of American Horror Story are interlinked in some way — ways that only really started to be discovered in Season 4.

“They’re all connected. We’re just beginning to tell you how they’re connected. They’re all very separate but there’s clues every season that we’re now telling you how the different worlds are intertwined.”

While Huffington Post noted that there are some recurring characters such as Dr. Arthur Arden (also known as Hans Gruper), Pepper, and Det. Jack Colquitt, which are easy to fit into the American Horror Story universe either because their stories extend between seasons or their names are the same, other characters will be harder to fit into scenarios. Take, for example, the characters played by Evan Peters. Peters has played a major character in every season of American Horror Story so far, and each character has been completely different to the other. His characters have also fallen into different eras in history. And now that Evan is reported to be playing the role of, or a character similar to, the historical figure Howard Hughes, it seems highly unlikely that these characters will be able to be linked to just the one plausible storyline.

Something interesting to note though is the return of Chloe Sevigny. In American Horror Story: Freak Show, we saw Jessica Lange’s character get her legs sawed off by what is now known to be Dr. Arden, a doctor who also sawed off Chloe’s characters legs in American Horror Story: Asylum. With Chloe returning, perhaps we will see a continuation of this storyline. While many sites are joining the dots between seasons of American Horror Story, if they are all connected like Murphy has stated, considering American Horror Story: Asylum contained both mental illness and alien storylines, it looks like these might be convenient plots devices to make tricky scenarios and obvious character/actor differences fit together.

All we know for certain about FX’s American Horror Story Season 5 is that it will revolve around a hotel, many speculating it could be something like the Bates Motel (which would tie in well for Chloe Sevigny and any storyline she might be involved in) or something more up market, like a hotel the famous Howard Hughes would stay in. Only time will tell just how American Horror Story: Hotel will unfold.

[Image credits: FX]