The Persistent ‘American Horror Story: Roanoke’ Theory That Will Hopefully Come True

[SPOILERS ahead for last night’s episode of American Horror Story: Roanoke.]

American Horror Story‘s sixth season is chugging along decently after its fourth episode. This week, we finally some genuinely disgusting deaths, so no need to worry if Ryan Murphy somehow got replaced by a pod person in the offseason. In one episode, Leslie Jordan was violently, graphically disemboweled; a hot Uber driver was propositioned for sex and then a second hot actor was cast to play the Uber driver in the frame story; Lady Gaga’s character got a detailed backstory, followed by meta-commentary moment where one of the characters described her as “wholly original”; and another character was killed by having her arms pulled off. So American Horror Story: Roanoke has hit its stride. Fair.

But doesn’t it seem like there’s another shoe waiting to drop this season? Perhaps its the frame story — a faux documentary concept where Lily Rabe, Andre Holland, and others play the “real life” versions of characters, who are telling the story of their Roanoke nightmare on some sort of true-crime show. Now, for all I know, this could just be Ryan Murphy taking a playful jab at the rise of true-crime programming in the last year or so (something that was aided and abetted by his own The People v. O.J. Simpson). But it also seems like the show is setting something up that it hasn’t yet paid off. Why else would they introduce a framing device that essentially tells you that the main characters will all survive? American Horror Story prides itself on being really to kill any character at any time!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a theory pop up on social media and in recaps — nothing tied to spoilers, but independent speculation — that this season of Horror Story is headed for a twist. It’s a twist that makes a lot of sense for a few reasons, and it would frankly spice up a season that feels pretty meandery at this point (just leave the house; just leave the house! JUST LEAVE THE HOUSE!!). Remember: this is merely a theory, not a spoiler, HOWEVER, Murphy  did tell EW that a big twist is coming in episode 6, a twist that “the thing that you think you’re watching is not what you’re watching.”

The Theory: The reenactments that have made up the bulk of the series will at some point this season go meta, and we will start following around the “actors” while they try to film on location, and watch them get subsequently menaced by the very real Roanoke monsters. So suddenly, Sarah Paulson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, and Lady Gaga and company wouldn’t be playing adversaries but co-stars who are being victimized by whatever really lies in those woods.

What Works About This Theory:

• That sure seems to fit Murphy’s promise of “the thing that you think you’re watching is not what you’re watching”!
• It would mean that nobody’s safe and anybody could get killed at any time, since we’re not following the story of Matt, Shelby, and Lee anymore. It would also allow the “IRL” Shelby, Matt, and Lee to get drawn back into their own story.
• After four episodes, two of the show’s main cast members — Cheyenne Jackson and Evan Peters — have been nowhere to be seen. The Wikipedia page lists Jackson as playing the voice of the interviewer during the talking-head segments, which only lends further credence to the theory, since Jackson may well be the documentary’s director.
• It would be the kind of get-everybody-talking moment that this season has lacked so far.

What Doesn’t Work About This Theory: 

• It’s been four episodes. The season is only supposed to last ten. Time’s a-wasting if they want to pull the trigger on a twist this big.
• After last night’s episode, the Roanoke story is beginning to seem less like a time-waster and more like the kind of AHS shenanigans we’re used to. It feels like this might just be the season we’re getting.

Who’s to say what this big 6th episode twist will be. We’re just incredibly impatient to get to it already.