The Title Of This ‘AHS’ Season Has Fans Worrying That It’s The Last One Ever

The end of days is drawing near on the new season of American Horror Story, but will AHS: Apocalypse also represent the end of the series? Season 8 of American Horror Story is set to premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 10 p.m. ET on FX, and with a plot that combines a new horrific story with familiar faces from Murder House and Coven, it's sure to be a hit with longtime fans of the show. But since it seems that the world Ryan Murphy created is soon to implode, will American Horror Story: Apocalypse be the final season of the show?

For those for whom the real horror story would be the end of AHS, there is nothing to fear. Not only has American Horror Story been renewed for a ninth season, it was also recently renewed for a tenth, according to Variety. “Ryan [Murphy] asked for a tenth season of American Horror Story which we were happy to give to him,” FX Networks CEO John Landgraf told Deadline in an interview, referring to the show's creator Ryan Murphy. As to whether the show will end after the tenth season, the answer is still up in the air.

”I don’t know,” Landgraf told Deadline when asked if the series would continue after Season 10. “A lot of that comes down to Ryan and whether he still feels inspired about it...Part of what’s cool about American Horror Story is its anthology nature. So it comes down to whether Ryan and his collaborators, like [showrunner] Tim Minear, could come up with stories that they are excited about.”

But as happy as the news of the AHS renewal may be, it brings up some fundamental questions about Apocalypse. Like, if the apocalypse really is here, then how can there be any more seasons of the show? Cause, you know, apocalypse. It's a valid question, considering all of the seasons of AHS are connected in some way, and eighth season in particular will bring these worlds together, joining the cast of Murder House with the cast of Coven into one big end-of-days party. So how can this AHS world really end if there are still at least two more seasons to explore?

The simplest answer could be that the world doesn't actually end at all. The newest season of AHS presumably shows the end times, begun by the antichrist Michael Langdon, whose birth marked the climax of AHS: Murder House. The new characters in Apocalypse seem to be taking cover in a group home called Outpost 3, run by an evil-looking Sarah Paulson with some serious sadistic tendencies. But previews of the season also show that the coven is coming to shake things up, and maybe even save the world from destruction.

The Harmon family could also provide the unexpected key to saving the world from absolute annihilation. If you remember, the Harmon family moved into the Murder House in season one, and it was Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) who was raped by a dead Tate Langdon (Evan Peters) and eventually gave birth to Michael, or the antichrist. The entire Harmon family was dead by the end of the season, doomed to live on as ghosts haunting the Murder House like so many of the home's victims before them. But the entire Harmon family is set to return on Apocalypse, according to Entertainment Weekly, and while their purpose in the show has yet to be revealed, it could have something to do with stopping the evil activities of their fourth family member, the demon Michael himself.

Or maybe the world truly will burn, and the ninth season of the show will feature the society that has managed to emerge from the ashes. "It's our world now, to remold as we see fit," one of Paulson's characters says in the Apocalypse trailer, and judging by the twisted look in her eye, that world would be far from a warm and fuzzy utopia. That world would likely deserve an AHS season of its own.

One thing's for sure— we have three more seasons of AHS to enjoy, whether the world burns on Sept. 12 or not.