American Horror Story: Infinity

It’s clear at this point that Ryan Murphy barely sleeps, or at the very least has acquired some futuristic (or magical) technology that allows him to be in two places at the same time. And it looks like he won’t be getting a break anytime soon, as FX has announced that anthology horror show American Horror Story has been renewed—not only for season 11, but also for a season 12…. and a season 13.

Overkill? Perhaps.

Despite the fact that everyone seems to have watched at least one season of American Horror Story, it’s no secret that the show has been inconsistent at times—and occasionally falls victim to Ryan Murphy’s tendency to let his shows lose direction mid-season. Now that it’s been confirmed that there are several more seasons of AHS on the horizon, it’s clear that Murphy has maybe too many irons in the fire.

On top of these three seasons of AHS, Murphy has ten (!!!!) projects that were greenlit as part of his deal with Netflix, including The Politician, which was released on the streaming platform last fall, to mixed reviews. That’s not even considering all of Murphy’s other ongoing shows, which include American Crime Story, Pose, and the procedural 9-1-1. And those are just the projects that we know about.

Let me be clear, this is not an attempt to complain about receiving the blessing that is at least three more seasons of incredible Sarah Paulson performances (if we’re really lucky they’ll do a repeat of AHS: Apocalypse and have her play more than one character in a single season), but rather to ask the necessary question: how long will this go on?

When asked about whether season 13 would be the show’s last, FX chairman John Landgraf answered somewhat cryptically:

“Could be… It will be poetic, won’t it if it ends after 13 seasons?”

But Landgraf went on to keep things a little more vague:

“It could be one of those weird things where we keep going, and it ends up being 20 seasons, I don’t know.”

Is that a promise or a threat?

How deep down the AHS rabbit hole will Ryan Murphy take us? What comes after the apocalypse and then going back in time? Will there ever be a season of the show where Evan Peters is not incredibly terrifying? Can season 12 (or 13) involve another throwback to AHS: Coven (please)?

It seems unlikely any of these questions will be answered in the near future, but maybe we’ll know more by the time unlucky season 13 rolls around.