Creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk gave first-announcement honors for American Horror Story's fifth season theme to Lady Gaga today, along with the news that the singer will be one of the new season's stars. As pointed to on Vulture and confirmed by Gaga herself on Twitter, the next season will be called American Horror Story: Hotel.
Make your reservation now. #GagaAHSHotel
https://t.co/o9ixi5TaFy
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 25, 2015
We don't know anything beyond that, like where this hotel might be or if the season will be set in the present day. Though the pattern of the seasons has alternated between past and present, so if that holds true, we will be back in present for Season 5 after spending the Freak Show season all in 1952.
Murphy confirmed last fall what some keen-eyed viewers already suspected, that all the seasons of the show are connected with the most clearly explained connection being Pepper, a Season 2 character whose origin story we learn in Season 4. We don't yet know how the other connections will be explained, but then HuffPo put together some charts last month, when Freak Show came to a close, discussing 11 different ways the first four seasons are already connected, including links to Florida, L.A., and Massachusetts. And we already knew that the upcoming season will not be set in outer space, or in Europe somewhere, because as Murphy has said, "It is called American Horror Story."
Despite some flagging interest in the AHS franchise when Season 4 turned out to be less riveting than everyone hoped, the casting of Lady Gaga should at least bring her ardent fans into the fold of the show's loyalists.
Season Five is scheduled to start shooting in July, at which point you can expect more clues to start leaking. American Horror Story: Hotel will premiere, per usual, around Halloween in October.
Related: Legless 'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Actress Discusses Her Role As Legless Suzy