The whole idea of American Horror Story is kind of a brilliant one. Have each season be their own standalone story, re-cast the same actors in new parts for a new theme, and move on? Seems like the perfect recipe for a long-running series. While the show has been far from perfect — recent seasons have faced criticism regarding cheap shock value — it still manages to retain and grow quite a fanbase that, at the very least, give each new themed season a shot.

But don’t expect the series to stay strictly anthology for long. Speaking with THR, co-creator Ryan Murphy has big plans for this show that go beyond what we’ve seen thus far.

“You’ll see it this season, and then you’ll really see it after this season. We lay a lot of pipe, and you’ll see it explode in seasons seven and eight. They haven’t officially been picked up yet by John Landgraf — he and I always talk at the end of the year and decide how many we want to do. But John has always said, and I have always agreed, that this is a show that could be like The Twilight Zone and run for multiple, multiple seasons and have its own inner mythology. So that’s how we’re approaching it. I’ll keep doing it for as long as we have the ideas and the momentum. I really love doing it.”

This is bound to be a controversial choice among fans who have enjoyed each season as their own standalone mythology, but you can’t fault Murphy for lacking ambition. In a sense, he’s creating his own little shared universe, and to see it slowly come together over the next few seasons is something that could be immensely satisfying for hardcore viewers.

Of course, in doing this, you run the risk in turning the show into a completely different beast. This isn’t uncommon for a series — you can look at shows like Supernatural and argue that every single series evolves into something different over time — but it’s especially uncommon when you’re more than five season isn’t a series’ run. In addition, considering that American Horror Story is known for re-using a good number of its actors, one has to wonder how that would play as plot points begin to crossover in the overall mythology.

If nothing else, should they continue to take this approach of exploring the connection between the seasons (Murphy has already said in the past that they’re all connected), that can certainly give them room to break their anthology-per-season approach into something more dynamic. 

What do you think of Murphy’s comments on turning American Horror Story into one larger inner mythology? Let us know your thoughts down below!

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons at the top of this page.

RELATED: AMERICAN HORROR STORY SEASON 7 HITS WEB, AND IT’S CREEPY AS HELL

SOURCE: THR