Is This The Title Of 'AHS' Season 6?

Attention, American Horror Story fans: there's been a huge development in the world of this FX series. I should make it clear right now that it's not confirmed whether or not what I'm about to tell you is really an American Horror Story Season 6 spoiler or just a random happenstance, but considering how starved we all are for news about this series, it's still worth discussing. Plus, it has to do with the title, which means it has to do with everything. Let me explain. It all started on Tuesday when, according to The Wrap, Rotten Tomatoes' American Horror Story page had a title listed for the upcoming sixth season of the show — despite the fact that the title has not yet been so much as hinted at by anyone affiliated with the series. The title Rotten Tomatoes listed? Simply, American Horror Story: The Mist . Since it was discovered by publications like The Wrap, it's disappeared from Rotten Tomatoes — as well as ended up elsewhere. On Wednesday, fans (who are basically AHS detectives considering how amazing they are at uncovering this stuff) began tweeting out pictures of cable and print TV guides that list the show's name as, you guessed it, American Horror Story: The Mist.

Now I know what you're thinking, and rest assured: I've already wondered whether or not it was possible that the Rotten Tomatoes title listing was a mistake, or perhaps a placeholder. I've even wondered if it was an intentional red herring! But every time, I ended up with the same conclusion: Considering the title hasn't been officially confirmed or denied by American Horror Story's network, FX (in a statement to Bustle, FX declined to comment on whether Season 6 will be titled The Mist or not) we can't exactly trust any source that isn't directly affiliated with the show.

That said, it also seems like a lot or work for TV guides and cable listings to release their listings with American Horror Story Season 6's title as The Mist if the information was meant to be a red herring.

Let's take a look at the evidence. First, we have the original Rotten Tomatoes listing, as depicted in a screengrab taken by a fan before The Mist was removed from the page.

Now, look at the listing of American Horror Story on this cable guide:

And in this print cable guide:

Now, I know what you're thinking again (I'm so intuitive, it's insane): "No way. I saw that teaser trailer where that person was abducted at a campsite, and also what about all those spiders? The Mist doesn't fit with any of that." Well, in response to that, I implore you to remember what FX CEO John Landgraf said at the Television Critic’s Association semi-annual press tour in August 2016. He explained that the marketing team "went out and made many more trailers than you’ve actually seen for hypothetical seasons of American Horror Story. Different genres, different places. I think they’re really fun and funny and beautifully, artfully made. One of them is accurate. The others are all misdirects.”

After considering that, revisit this teaser trailer that FX released on YouTube in mid-August, titled — what else? — "The Mist":

Could this be the one teaser that's accurate?

If we're to take this at face value and believe that Ryan Murphy and co. are not just messing with fans — because dang, misprinted television guides would be an elaborate misdirect — let's think about what "The Mist" could possibly mean as a title. Though there are a lot of possibilities, one that I feel makes complete sense for this series is the possibility the title could be a reference to the Stephen King novella of the same name, in which monsters take over a small town.

That said, we should still all keep in mind that past season titles haven't always been the most descriptive. I mean, Season 5's title, Hotel, may have given us the setting, but it didn't tell us much about the plot. If The Mist truly is the title of Season 6, it might not really have anything to do with the storyline Murphy's got planned.

Either way, fans have two weeks until answers finally trickle in during the Season 6 premiere. The only thing keeping this particular fan going right now? Hope that the payoff will be worth the confusion.

Images: FXNetworks/YouTube