What to Expect From American Horror Story Hotel's Finale, and What We Know About Season 6

Part 1 of American Horror Story: Hotel’s two-part finale premieres tonight on FX, and Part 2 is scheduled to follow on January 13th. Though the Hotel season began by igniting public outcries of indecency, the rest of the season flew by as most Ryan Murphy projects do: as a brightly colored spectacle boasting of deeper themes and not really committing to any of them.

So what will tonight’s finale involve?

Battle Royale: Part 1

Well, to begin, American Horror Story: Hotel promised, and for the most part kept that promise, to tie in earlier seasons. These tie-ins, including Elizabeth’s botched abortion at season one’s “Murder House,” seek to create a horrific multiverse of ghost teens, circus freaks, and mustachioed hotel owners who all look like Evan Peters.

That means Murphy & Co will most likely use their final two episodes to further entangle the characters in Hotel to their counterparts in earlier seasons. This means Gabourey Sidibe, who appears on the promos for tonight’s episode, may very well be reprising her role as Queenie from American Horror Story: Coven. Some fans believe Sidibe is simply stepping in to play a character originally written for Emma Roberts, who was too busy with Scream Queens to have a cameo in Hotel, but it seems like a loss of opportunity to not feature Queenie as a crossover character.

As anyone with half a brain might have guessed, Elizabeth (or, “The Countess”) (or, “Lady Gaga”) will return in tonight’s episode, despite having been gunned down by Liz Taylor and Iris. There is no way on earth Lady Gaga would have signed on to a contract that didn’t involve her in the final throes of the show’s drama. Plus, she appears in an elevator (not covered in blood) in the episode’s promo, so that’s settled.

Though the promo gives us Iris congratulating Liz for burning the bodies, press photos released a few days ago paint a different picture of the accomplices. It seems Iris may be upset that Liz is now going overboard with her gun collection.

The episode’s official synopsis teases plot developments for three female characters without confirming much about Liz and Iris:

“Ramona draws vitality from an unlikely source. Sally uses her past to negotiate her future. Scarlett learns the truth of her family’s affliction.”

While Sally attempts to honor her vow from last episode and murder John and Alex, it seems Sarah Paulson (who plays Sally) will also make an appearance as Billie Dean Howard from season one. Entertainment Weekly reported in December that Billie Dean would check into the Cortez hoping to film an episode of her reality show. This means she, or whomever Gabourey Sidibe is playing, will likely be the source of Ramona’s “vitality”.

We can also expect to see the drill-dildo-wielding Addiction Demon again, and a resolution for Scarlett.

American Horror Story: Season Six

Back in November, it was reported that FX had picked up American Horror Story for a sixth season. It seems reasonable that Murphy & Co will continue to tie the preceding seasons together, which should make for a more complex (but possibly just more messy) storyline this time around.

Several sources confirm that both Jessica Lange and Emma Roberts will return for the show’s sixth season, though no one seems to know if Lady Gaga has signed on to return. Ashley Rickards of season one, and more notably of MTV’s Awkward fame, will return for the sixth season.

Though fans (and actor Evan Peters) have been clamoring for American Horror Story: Space, Murphy shot down these calls for aliens and astronauts, telling Entertainment Weekly, “We’re not doing space […], space is not in America.” Area 51, and Roswell, NM, however, are, so Murphy hasn’t quite gotten himself off the hook yet. As many have pointed out, several hints were dropped in both American Horror Story: Asylum and American Horror Story: Freak Show regarding extraterrestrial life, and those easter eggs have set to come to fruition.

Others have speculated about a forest theme, which could lend itself to being American Horror Story: Camp (a title that could feasibly be slapped on any of the previous seasons — get it?!), AHS: Cabin, or ASH:Woods. While these rumors do seem persistent, it’s worth noting that Murphy has confirmed that a pick-up for a second season of Scream Queens would likely involve a summer camp setting. It’s not likely that he’d double down on the same woodsy situation for both of his spooky franchises.

Back in 2013, Murphy told Deadline that he had originally planned to involve Charles Manson-esque murder cults in AHS, but that he had scrapped the idea out of respect for Manson’s many victims. Still, the promise of American Horror Story: Cult has followed the show through its five seasons, with fans getting all frothy about the admittedly very American subject of mob mentality.