American Horror Story season 7: First cast members announced, show renewed for season 8 and 9

It's unclear whether season 7 will keep its theme a secret once more, though Ryan Murphy has revealed a few small details

And so it begins.

American Horror Story fans have had a few quiet months of rest and recuperation after the madness of season 6's high-concept Roanoke conceit, but a new cycle of speculation and mystery has started up all over again.

First off, FX CEO John Landgraf delivered some very good news to fans at the Television Critics Association: American Horror Story has been renewed up to season 9 (via Entertainment Weekly), meaning there are at least three more tales to tell, and three more chances for Sarah Paulson to be utterly fabulous.

And then, maybe, some potentially stressful news: the theme may be kept under wraps once more, so start expecting plenty of mysterious teasers and (probably) some more red herrings.

"It actually will be shrouded in super secrecy," Landgraf added. "Ryan has yet another really innovative idea for how to do something fresh and different with the franchise that audiences haven’t seen before, and there’s a marketing promotional hook around that."

That's despite previous statements that the theme would be revealed next spring; while Ryan Murphy himself said on the subject of a secret season at the same event (via TVLine), "I don’t know that we’d do that again. I think maybe we would release [some hints] of it earlier. I just started writing it. I haven’t decided how to do it yet." So which one exactly is it?

"We know explicitly what next season is about, which is seven, but we don’t know what the eighth and ninth seasons are about," Landgraf elswhere continued. "We’re extending it out of trust and goodwill but also, Ryan made a commitment that he would continue to run that show and that he would be involved as he has been in the past with… designing and building the show from the ground up.

"So I honestly couldn’t tell you what seasons 8 or 9 [could] be, but I can only tell you that I’m really excited about season 7 and I’m utterly confident that seasons 8 and 9 will be equally original and interesting."

Murphy did, however, let two little morsels of information go on the subject of next season: it'll be a "modern-day" story, which is interesting considering we already know it will involve several Freak Show characters (perhaps in flashback?), and both Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters are confirmed to return. Because just imagine the anarchy if they didn't.