FX "American Horror Story: 1984" premieres Wednesday, September 18 at 10/9c on FX.
American Horror Story season 9 episode 3, titled “Slashdance,” airs tonight at 10/9c on FX. Just two episodes into the show, fans are already starting to speculate where 1984 will go, and what twists and turns the show has in store for viewers as the season continues. If you’re a tried and true AHS fan, you know that the showrunners enjoy throwing plenty of plot twists and curveballs at fans throughout the season, so it should come as no surprise that fan theories for 1984 are already flooding the internet.
There have been some pretty interesting theories across the Twittersphere and Reddit already, and episode 3 hasn’t even aired yet. Some of the theories are wacky and a bit questionable, some are wild and surprisingly plausible, while others are strange enough that they might actually be accurate, so we decided to round up a few of our favorites to share with other AHS fans out there.
Read on for some of the craziest fan theories on the cast, characters and plot of 1984:
Mr. Jingles & The Rest of the Campers Are Just Actors in a Slasher Film
y’all i’ve read so many ahs theories and now i actually believe the first five episodes is the movie and the rest of the season is the characters filming the movie and being famous actors and a serial killer is after them. because the actors irl are filming in LA. #AHS1984
Fans might remember season 6 of AHS which revealed halfway through the season that the horrific, ghostly encounters of the first half of the season were just being portrayed by actors who were filming a documentary (although they ended up encountering the same grisly fate as the people they were portraying in the end). Due to the nature of the overly exaggerated, cheesy slasher vibe season 9 has so far, one fan theorized that 1984 might have a similar twist.
According to the theory, Brooke, Xavier, Montana and the rest of the Camp Redwood crew are not actually camp counselors running from a crazed killer, but actors in an ’80s slasher film they are currently shooting. This would mean that Mr. Jingles is also just an actor, and not an actual serial killer.
“y’all i’ve read so many ahs theories and now i actually believe the first five episodes is the movie and the rest of the season is the characters filming the movie and being famous actors and a serial killer is after them. because the actors irl are filming in LA,” the user wrote.
Although this would be an interesting theory and would make for a fun season, we don’t see showrunner Ryan Murphy using the same plot twist for a second time, especially after Roanoke was such a flop. And if he did decide to recycle the same idea, it would be pretty disappointing and would seriously lack some imagination, which Murphy has plenty of.
Margaret Booth is the Real Killer & She Framed Mr. Jingles
The lone survivor of Mr. Jingles’ first attack on Camp Redwood, Margaret has every reason to hate the man and what he did to her fellow campers when she was a teenager. However, where most sane individuals would choose not to buy the site of their horrific, traumatic, childhood experience, Margaret decided to do just that, but took it a step further and refused to shut the camp back down after she was told Mr. Jingles was on the loose once again.
Margaret could very well be trying to lure Mr. Jingles to the camp so she can enact her revenge and finally kill the man who cut off her ear (she did ask the Night Stalker for help); however, some fans believe that Margaret herself is the real killer, and that her story about surviving the mass murder at the camp so many years ago was complete BS.
“Okay so here’s what I’ve been kicking around, Leslie Grossman’s character didn’t survive the first massacre, she was the killer,” one Reddit user theorized. Another speculated that Margaret was the “dorky/less sexually desirable/etc girl in her bunk so she snapped and killed the other campers.”
Is it possible that Margaret’s story about nearly dying at the hands of Mr. Jingles is fabricated? Could she be the one who committed the crimes before framing Jingles for it? Could Mr. Jingles have broken out of the psychiatric ward to enact his revenge on her for framing him? We don’t think so, but it would make for a pretty great plot twist.
Brooke is a Killer, Camp Redwood is the Next Murder House & The Campers Are Part of an Experiment, Similar to Cabin in the Woods
It’s still a bit early to determine which theories are the most likely plot twists, and which are just crazy speculation, but there are a few others that we thought merited some thought. Many fans have brought up the idea that Brooke might actually be a killer, and that the Night Stalker never actually attacked her at all. Brooke’s dark past was revealed during last week’s episode, which had fans wondering if she might have actually lost her mind and fabricated the story about being attacked. For those who need a recap, at the altar on her wedding day, Brooke’s jealous ex-fiance shot and killed the friend he thought Brooke was sleeping with before turning the gun on himself. Some are wondering if Brooke might have went a little crazy after experiencing such trauma, and if might actually be involved in what’s happening at Camp Redwood.
Another interesting theory involves Camp Redwood being the next “Murder House,” after the ghost of a former camper who was killed by Mr. Jingles appeared during episode 2. This brings up the question of whether or not the other deceased campers are lurking somewhere around the campgrounds, and if they aren’t ever allowed to leave after such a disturbing, violent rampage took place (which would follow the premise of Murder House and why the dead could never pass on).
A personal favorite, Reddit user JamesGolds2907 suggested that season 9 may actually add a fresh twist later in the season by turning the events at Camp Redwood into a game show or experiment along the lines of Cabin in the Woods, with somebody (or something) manipulating the outcome of their experiences. Not only would this theory tie into Apocalypse by treating the events as a means of selecting outpost applications, the season could almost turn into a Hunger Games-type game, with the remaining survivors pitted against one another to win in the end.
Whatever theory, if any of them, proves to be true, we hope 1984 gives us a really great twist in the end, and we are looking forward to seeing how it all plays out. Tune in tonight at 10/9c to catch American Horror Story: 1984 on FX.
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